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THE     FAMOUS     LOWNDES'     MANUSCRIPTS. 

98  ( 

LOWNDES,  Williarn...'  Manuscript  Journals  of  the  House  a 
Commons,  etc.,  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  1571,  from  Charles  H.  (Ox 
ford  Parliament),  1681,  about  forty  volumes,  folio,  contemporar; 
binding.     (A  few  volumes  missing,  a  few  bindings  broken).  168 

A   niLot   re..iarkable   collection    jl    manusci'ipts   and    oi   jjpreme    import] 
ance   to   any  library.      Ihese   manuscript  journals   were    made   for   Seer 
tary  Lowndes  in  1686  according  to  the  records  preserved  by  the  descend 
ants.      It  is  the  only  manuscript  in  existence  and   che  one  used  to  correc 
the  transcripts  made  for  the  printing  of  the  journals  when  that  work  wa; 
in  progress  between  the  years  1780  and  1790.   Until  1785  the  only  sourcetl 
of  reference  regarding  preceden:s  and  forms  of  procedure  in  the   House 
of    Commons    were    the    original    clerks'    journals    in    the    custody    of    the 
Commons  and  this  Lowndes'  copy  which,  being  in  good  state  and  written 
in  a  later  hand  was  often  preferred.     In  fact  the  Lowndes  copy  was  the 
only  source  available,  for  over  a  hundred  years,  to  any  man  who  was  not 
a  member  of  Parliament. 

The  original  owner  was  the  famous  William  Lowndes,  Secretary  to  the 
Treasury  during  the  reigns  of  William  III,  Queen  Anne  and  Geoi'ge  I. 
For  sixteen  years,  before  he  became  Secretary  in  1695,  he  was  employed 
reporting  on  the  various  petitions  brought  before  the  board  and  it  was 
no  doubt  due  to  the  continual  reference  to  the  original  journals  that  this 
copy  was  made  for  h-  i'he  records  at  this  time  must  have  been  in  a 

perilous  state  for  some  years  afterwards  lyowndes  was  a  member  of  the 
Committee,  one  of  whom  was  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  to  report  upon  the 
records  in  Caesar's  Chapel  and  suggest  means  for  their  preservation. 

William  Lowndes  was  one  of  the  most  famous  of  public  financiers  ano 
one  of  the  men  responsible  for  the  funding  system.  To  him  is  due  th<j 
first  operation  of  converting  exchequer  bills  into  the  permanent  debt  o:j 
Britain.  After  the  Treasui'y  buildings  were  burnt  down  in  1697  it  was  a 
Lowndes'  house  near  Westmister  Abbey  where  the  board  held  meeting: 
until  the  chambers,  at  the  Cockpit  were  put  in  order. 

The  Lowndes  family  hold  strong  association  between  Sngland,  Vir 
ginia  and  Carolina.  Originally  a  scion  of  the  old  Leigh  family  of  Che' 
shire,  it  was  settled  at  Winslow,  Bucks,  about  1520.  Robert  Lownde 
married  in  1576  with  Jane  Croke  and  left  a  family  including  two  sons 
the  eldest,  William,  and  another,  known  as  Capt.  Lowndes,  one  of  th 
earliest  settlers  in  Virginia,  and  ancestor  of  the  Lowndes  family  o 
Jamestown,  who  acquired  a  large  tract  which  was  entailed  to  his  brothe' 
William,  failing  his  own  children.      Robert  Lowndes  died  in   1602. 

The  eldest  son,  William,  born  1585,  succeeded  to  the  estate,  marrie 
in  1612,  Elizabeth  Wendover  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Edmund,  bor 
1617,  and  Robert,  born  1619.  Edmund  appears  to  have  been  a  scapegrac 
who  went  to  America  and  lived  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  from  164 
to  1658.  when  he  drops  out  of  the  family  records.  The  father  died  r 
1656,  and  was  succeeded  by  Robert,  the  second  son. 

Robert  Lowndes  fled  to  Virginia  in  1642  owing  to  the  troubles  between 
King  and  Parliament.  He  stayed  there  eight  yeai's,  during  which  timf 
he  married  Margaret  Selby.  Only  one  child  was  born  of  this  marriage 
Margaret,  who  married  John  Lowndes  of  Jamestown,  Va.  After  hS 
return  he  married  secondly  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  Fitzwillian 
who  was  the  mother  of  four  daughters  and  one  son,  William,  born  165S 
Robert  Lowndes  died  1683,  when  the  estates  passed  to  his  only  son,  Sec 
retary  William  Lowndes,  the  first  owner  of  these  manuscripts. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  Lowndes  family  have  borne  the  nam 
Selhy-Lowndes  since  1766  in  honour  of  the  lady  who  married  their  ali 
cestor  when  in  refuge  in  Virginia. 

The  journals  commence  with  the  year  1571,  the  third  Parliament  -ci 
Queen  Elizabeth.  During  this  year  the  earliest  bill  on  banking  wa 
brought  foi-ward  on  21st  .A.pril  for  the  erection  of  seven  Banks,  and  ther 
were  other  bills  against  promoters  and  usury.  In  trade  there  is  a  notic 
of  the  petition  of  merchants  of  Danswicke  touching  Coney  Skins. 

The  main  proceedings  against  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  are  given  in  thi 

18 


volume.  Those  who  attended  as  members  oi"  tnese  Elizabethan  paiiia- 
menis  were  paid  lor  their  juaes  and  iii  ii^to  a  resoiu.ion  Wc.^  parsed 
tna:  the  payments  oe  stoppeu  for  non-attenoance.  i  ne  proceaure  wnicn 
has  oeen  loliowed  in  Parliamentary  practice  was  luunaea  upon  prece- 
dents wnich  occurred  in  the  Parliaments  of  Elizabetn. 

L)uring  tlie  eanier  Parliaments  of  James  1  there  were  many  even.s 
which  had  a  great  influence  upon  history,  the  reports  of  which  are  only 
to  be  found  in  the  Journals.  From  1603  to  16U7  is  the  period  during 
which  Sir  Frances  Bacon  was  one  of  the  leading  figures  and  reports  are 
given  of  the  main  points  of  his  speeches,  sometimes  with  his  very  clever 
sayings  in  full.  These  do  not  appear  to  have  been  printed  by  the  present- 
day  Baconian  school.  During  this  period  Bacon  is  reported  nearly  forty 
times  on  questions  dealing  with  the  Union,  Courts  of  Wards,  Subsidies, 
Purveyors  and  other  important  measures. 

In  1609  there  was  the  case  of  Sir  George  Somers,  M.P.,  for  Lyme  Regis, 
who  had  become  Governor  of  Virginia,  some  of  the  members  wishing  to 
exclude  him  on  that  accoun:.  It  was  during  this  year  that  Bacon's  friend 
Sir  Toby  Matthew  was  banished  from  the   Kingdom. 

The  Year  1623-4  has  the  two  accounts  in  two  volumes  with  reports  in 
each  concerning  the  arrest  of  the  six  ships  for  fishing  off  the  coast  of 
New  England  as  being  against  the  paten:  granted  to  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorge.  This  patent  was  brought  before  the  Committee  of  Grievances 
which  reported  that  the  patentee  was  forced  to  grant  free  fishing  off 
the   coast. 

These  two  volumes  also  contain  the  full  reports  on  the  affair  of  the 
Spanish  Match  and  Treaties  with  Spain,  the  great  opposition  to  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurei's  and  entries  which  show  the  general  tendency  against 
monopolies  and  impositions.  One  entry  contains  the  first  record  of  one 
of  the  Washington  famify  in  public  life.  On  14th  April,  1624,  one  Wash- 
ingto,  a  registrar  of  the  court  of  the  Lord  Keeper,  was  abused  by  a  servant 
Churchill  who  made  a  false  entry  on  a  document. 

In  the  fii'st  year  of  Charles  I  there  were  matters  of  great  historical 
value,  particularly  the  attitude  of  the  Commons  towards  the  Court  Party. 
This  was  an  enquiry  into  the  death  of  King  James,  in  which  it  was  de- 
clared that  the  Uuke  of  Buckingham  applied  a  plaster  and  gave  a  drink 
without  the  consent  or  knowledge  of  tne  royal  p.iysicians.  I'here  was  a 
great  opposition  to  Buckingham,  who  was  eventually  impeached  for  high 
treason.  John  Pym,  John  Selden  and  Sir  John  Elliott  were  much  in  tne 
foreground  during  this  Parliament.  There  is  much  that  relates  to  trade, 
patents  and  monopolies.  In  one  instance  it  is  stated  that  20,000  families 
in  and  about  London  were  engaged  in  silk  manufacture. 

In  1626  the  same  opposition  to  the  Court  is  in  evidence.  During  this 
year  the  Act  for  Free  Fishing  in  the  Sea  Coasts  off  New  Foundland,  Vir- 
ginia and  New  England  was  first  brought  forward,  though  it  appears  to 
have  been  carried  through  several  parliaments  before  it  became  law.  At 
this  time  Shakespeare's  famous  theatre  appears  to  have  become  a  nuisance, 
for  there  was  a  petition  in  February  for  the  inhabitants  of  Blackfryei's 
against  the  Playhouse,  stating  that  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  had  left 
the  neighborhood  in  consequence  of  the  behaviour  of  the  people  going  to 
the  theatre. 

The  Act  on  Free  Fishing  came  up  again  in  1626-7  and  again  in  1627-8, 
in  which  year  it  was  passed  16th  May.  The  great  movement  regarding 
the  liberty  of  the  subject  and  the  returns  of  members  to  Parliament.  In 
one  instance  a  Mr.  Copley  was  the  sole  inhabitant  of  the  borough  of  Gat- 
ton  and  he  returned  two  members.  The  Petition  of  Right  came  into  being 
this  year  and  the  first  engrossed  petition  regarding  the  Somer  or  Ber- 
muda Isles  was  presented. 

The  later  volumes  are  full  of  history.  Those  of  years  1640-42  are 
ponderous  volumes  running  into  thousands  of  pages  relating  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  struggle  between  the  King  and  Parliament.  All  the  matter  is 
vital  historical  importance  to  the  student  of  political  evolution.  The 
events  which  happened  in  the  parliament  during  the  years  1640-42  are 
part  of  the  mainstream  of  American  history.  The  reform  promised  by  the 
leaders  in  the  great  rebellion  against  the  King  were  only  partly  granted 
by  the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  the  American  colonists  only  secured  them 


^^^ 


i^u^ 


LOWNDES  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA 


an  historical  anti  dEicttcalogical  iHcmoir 


BY 

GEORGE   B.  CHASE 

A.    M.    MARV. 


'■'■Nothing  catt  tue  call  our  own  —  except  our  Dead" 


BOSTON 

A.  WILLIAMS    AND   COMPANY 

1876 


Copyright,  1876, 
By  George  B.  Chase. 


BOSTON  : 

PRESS    OF   DAVID   CLAPP    AND   SON, 

564  WASHINGTON    STRKET. 


L^?fC3^ 


TO 


MAJOK    RAWLIXS    L0W:N^DES, 


FORMERLY   OF    THE   ARMY, 


XOW  OF  HOPELAXD,  STAATSBURGH-OX-HUDSOif,. 


THIS   BRIEF  MEMOIR  OF    HIS   FAMILY 


%s  rfcttionatclu  bcb'uatfb. 


550178 


IKTEODITCTION 


The  name  of  Lowndes,  an  uncommon  one  in  the  northern  states 
of  the  Union,  has  been  from  an  early  period  socially  conspicuous 
throughout  the  southern  country.  The  several  families  of  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  cherished  till  recently  the  belief  that  they 
were  all  descendants  in  common  of  but  one  and  the  same  branch  of 
an  ancient  county  family  of  England,  This  belief  had  in  it  much  to 
appeal  to  the  generous  traits  and  hospitable  character  of  the  southern 
planters,  who  for  a  large  part  of  each  year  lived  in  comparative  re- 
tirement. They  were  always  ready  to  assume,  in  the  absence  of  any- 
thing to  the  contrary,  that  others  of  their  name  and  class  were  of  their 
kith  and  their  kin,  since  Jthey  could  thus  claim  the  right  to  make  them 
more  welcome  to  their  homes.  While,  too,  such  a  belief  gratifieil 
their  love  of  hospitality,  it  enlarged  their  acquaintance,  widened  and 
deepened  the  current  of  their  friendships,  and  increased  the  considera- 
tion and  influence  of  tlieir  name. 

Like  others  among  the  older  English  families  of  the  South  they 
accepted  their  family  traditions,  and  believed  them  without  question 
as  they  increased  by  repetition  and  friendly  intercourse.  Nor  did  they 
find  their  conviction  of  a  wide-scattered  kindred  in  the  colonies  shaken," 
even  when  the  old  family  seals  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
indicated  a  separation  of  their  ancestors  in  England,  relatively  as  wide 
as  their  own  settlements  in  the  original  colonies.  Attaching  its  proper 
significance  to  heraldic  distinctions,  they  were  yet  ignorant  of  the 
rules *of  heraldry  and  confused  in  recent  generations  their  arms.  They 
neglected  their  old  seals  and  turned  to  later  English  dictionaries  of 
heraldry  for  their  bearings  and  mottoes.  They  sometimes  bore  at 
random  the  arms  of  one  family  of  the  name  or  another,  and  were  un- 
conscious of  the  obligation  to  prove  their  hereditary  right  to  their  use. 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

The  present  head  of  the  Carolina  family  of  Lowndes,  attracted  by 
the  successful  investigations  of  Somerby  and  Chester,  American  gene- 
alogists long  resident  in  England,  and  desirous  of  placing  upon  perma- 
nent record  the  most  serviceable  career  of  his  ancestors  in  the  United 
States,  as  well  as  of  embodying  in  correct  form  as  much  of  the  family 
pedigree  as  could  be  authoritatively  traced,  authorized  and  approved 
the  memoir  contained  in  the  following  pages,  which  was  written  for 
the  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  and  is  found  in  the  number 
of  that  periodical  for  April,  1876. 

The  portrait,  which  faces  the  title  page,  has  been  engraved  from  a 
photograph  of  the  figure  of  William  Lowndes,  as  he  is  represented 
among  a  group  of  members  of  the.  House  of  RejDresentatives  in  a  large 
picture  painted,  as  Is  said,  by  Morse  about  1820.  The  sketches  of  the 
heads  of  those  gentlemen  whose  portraits  have  thus  been  preserved 
were  made  by  the  artist  from  his  seat  in  the  gallery  of  the  old  chamber 
of  the  House,  as  he  looked  down  upon  the  floor.  Mr.  Lowndes  never 
sat  for  his  portrait,  and  the  representation  thus  disadvantageously  taken 
of  him  is  the  only  one  that  can  recall,  however  feebly,  his  personal 
appearance. 

The  Appendix,  which  has  been  divided  into  two  parts,  will  be 
found  to  contain  in  the  first  part,  copies  and  extracts  of  those  wills  and 
tleeds  referred  to  in  the  narratives  which  establish  the  connection  be- 
tween the  Cheshire  and  Carolina  families,  and  in  the  second,  copies 
of  some  of  the  documents  in  the  Record  Ofiice  at  London,  which 
illustrate  the  connection  of  the  Overton  family  of  Lowndes  with 
the  Province  of  South  Carolina,  and  throw  light  upon  its  early  settle- 
ment and  administration. 

The  writer  regrets  the  imperfections  of  the  accompanying  genealogy. 
The  destruction  of  records  and  family  papers  in  the  Carolinas  has  been 
so  great,  in  the  confusion  of  the  times,  that  he  has  found  it  a  matter 
of  unusual  difficulty  to  determine  the  facts  and  dates  herein  given* 
The  genealogy  is  not  free,  as  he  fears,  from  omissions,  nor,  perhaps, 
from  errors.  It  has  been  his  constant  endeavor  to  be  accurate,  and  he 
will  gladly  receive  any  facts  which  may  illustrate  his  subject  from  any 
who  may  be  able  to  communicate  them. 

Boston,  May  i,  1876. 


MEMOIR. 


LOWNDES  OF  SOUTH  CAROLOA. 


A^ 


MONG  the  leading  ftimilles  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina,  in  by-gone 
davs,  there  Avas  hardly  one  that  exercised 
so  strong  an  influence  throughout  its  colo- 
nial dependence,  and  the  first  half  centu- 
ry of  its  existence  as  one  of  the  United 
States,  as  that  of  Lowndes  of  Charles- 
ton, and  of  Colleton  County  where  were 
its  first  plantations, — a  junior  branch  of 
an  old  and  very  numerous  English  family 
which  attained  its  highest  honors  in  the 
mother  country  during  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne. 

For  Avell  nigh  a  century  from  the  year 
1725,  when  Mr.  Thomas  Lowndes  of 
Overton,  in  the  county  of  Cheshire,  and 
a  descendant  of  the  ^^  anciente  faniihje 
of  Loundes  of  Legh  Hall,"  was  busily 
engaged  in  schemes  for  the  settlement  of 
South  Carolina,  of  which  he  held  the  patent  of  Provost  Marshal, 
and  was  in  active  correspondence  Avith  the  Board  of  Trade,  at  White- 
hall,— down  to  the  ]K'riod  of  the  ]\Iissouri  Compromise  in  1820, 
and  the  lamented  death,  two  years  later,  of  AVilliam  Lowndes  of 
(Charleston,  then  nominated,  after  ten  years  of  eminent  service  in 
Congress,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States, — 
the  strenuous  character  of  their  race  had  maintained  a  continual 
representation  of  their  name  in  the  service  of  the  colony  and  state. 

When   Crowfield,  the  family   residence   on  tlic  Ashley  river,  Avas 
burned  Avith  all  its  contents,  soon  after  the  Revolution,  the  library, 
2 


8 

together  with  its  books,  portraits  and  papers,  Inckiding  a  pedigree 
and  all  the  early  correspondence  with  their  relatives  in  England 
and  the  West"  Indies,  Avere  utterly  destroyed.  As  the  generation 
then  living,  according  to  tradition,  were  very  familiar  witli  the 
history  of  their  line,  and  as  little  importance  was  then  attached 
to  a  continuance  of  that  intercourse  which  had  been  rudely  severed 
by  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  Independence,  no  steps  were  taken 
to  make  any  record  of  the  history  ot  the  Carolina  family,  and  so  it 
happened  after  the  lapse  of  two  generations  of  plantei's,  who  were 
thoroughly  content  with  their  lot  in  life,  and,  "  incuriosi  suorum,'' 
were  unaware  of  the  importance  to  their  descendants  of  a  full  family 
record,  that,  when  there  arose  among  them,  a  few  years  since,  the 
natural  spirit  of  inquiry  into  their  antecedents,  and  a  desire  to  establish 
anew  their  traditional  connection  with  England,  there  was  no  where 
in  Carolina  any  ])aper  or  record  of  the  family  descent,  or  even  of  the 
family  correspondence  in  the  last  century.  Beyond  an  old  seal  and 
a  few  pieces  of  English  porcelain  dinner  service  sent  from  England 
to  Rawlins  Lowndes,  subsequently  President  of  South  Carolina,  soon 
after  his  second  marriage  in  1750,  and  decorated  with  his  arms, 
there  was  no  clue  to  which  branch  of  the  name  in  England  the 
Carolina  planters  had  been  related. 

Several  years  since,  Mnjor  llawlins  Lowndes,  formerly  of  the 
Army,  and  now  of  Hopeland,  near  Staatsburgh  on  Hudson,  author- 
ized the  inquiry  which,  conducted  by  the  writer  in  the  West  Indies 
and  in  England,  resulted,  after  many  unforeseen  delays,  in  perfecting 
anew  proofs  of  that  pedigree  which  had  been  consumed  at  the  burn- 
ing of  Crowfield  nearly  a  hundred  years  before. 

A  comparison  of  the  arms  upon  the  seal  and  dinner  service  with 
that  of  Lowndes  of  Bostock  House  and  Hassall  Hall,  in  Burke's 
History  of  the  Commoners,  showed  them  to  be  identical,  save  with 
the  proper  difference  when  borne  by  a  j^ounger  son,  but  the  geneal- 
ogy of  the  Bostock  line,  as  recorded  by  Burke,  although  it  showed 
a  representation  in  the  American  Colonies  at  a  late  ])eriod,  contained 
no  mention  of  any  possible  ancestor  of  Charles  Lowndes  of  St.  Kitts, 
the  founder  of  the  Carolina  family. 

A  correspondence  was  thereupon  instituted  with  the  clergy  in  the 
island  of  St.  Christopher,  usually  called  St.  Kitts,  as  it  was  known 
from  the  printed  notes  of  his  grandson,  the  late  Hon.  Thomas 
Lowndes,  that  Mr.  Charles  Lowndes  had  come  with  his  family 
from  that  island.  After  an  interval  of  some  months,  an  answer 
Avas  received  from  the  late  Rev.  Ebenezer  Elliott,  then  rector  of 
Christ  Church,  Nicola  town,  and  St.  Mary's,  Cayou,  St.  Kitts,  giv- 
ing a  record  of  all  births,  marriages,"  and  deaths  under  the  Lowndes 
name  before  the  removal  to  Carolina.  A  diligent  seai'ch  Avas  com- 
menced in  the  record  office  at  London,  and  a  careful  examination 
Avas  made  of  all  the  Avills  Avhich  seemed  to  bear  upon  the  family  of 
either  Mr.  Thomq,s  Lowndes,  of  Overton,  the  first  Provost  Marshal  of 


9 

Carolina  under  the  king,  or  that  of  the  Bostoek  line.  Wills  were 
transcribed,  parish  registers  were  searched,  and  the  present  repre- 
sentative of  the  Bostoek  familyin  England,  now  merged  in  the  female 
line,  Miss  Sophia  Kirkby  Reddall,  of  Congleton,  niece  and  heiress 
of  the  last  Mr.  Lowndes  of  Ilassall,  caused  an  examination  of  the 
family  papers  in  her  own  possession  to  be  made  by  her  solicitor. 

It  became  at  length  evident,  although  not  till  the  end  of  a  long 
and  wearisome  inqmry,  which  was  carried  on  at  intervals  for  upwards 
of  five  years,  that  there  were  material  errors  and  omissions  in  the 
English  pedigrees,  the  result  of  an  imperfect  and  probably  hasty 
examination  of  the  papers  of  the  late  j\Ir.  William  Lowndes  of 
Hassall,  the  last  representative  of  his  name,  before  they  were 
submitted  to  Mr.  Burke's  compilers  for  their  perusal  and  use  in  the 
preparation  of  his  most  comprehensive  book,  "The  History  of  the 
Commoners  of  Great  Britain." 

As  Mr.  Thomas  Lowndes,  Provost  Marshal  of  Carolina  in  1725, 
was  of  the  0\erton  family,  an  especial  search  was  also  made  in  the 
will  offices  and  among  the  church  records  of  the  various  parishes  in 
Cheshire  where  the  family  name  was  found,  for  a  proof  of  his  pedi- 
gree and  with  the  hope  of  bringing  to  light  the  pi-esumed  relationship 
between  this  gentleman  and  Charles  Lowndes,  whose  son  Kawlins 
had,  as  early  as  1741,  succeeded  to  the  provost  marshalship,  with 
the  approval  of  the  assignee  of  the  patent.  The  wills  of  all  persons 
recorded  under  the  name  of  Lowndes  at  the  probate  office  in  Chester 
were  carefully  examined,  and  fall  extracts  were  taken  from  the 
parish  registers  of  Sandbach,  Middlewich  and  Astbury,  but  while 
the  family  of  Mr.  Thomas  Lowndes  of  Overton,  and  afterwards 
of  Westminster  —  although  never  himself,  after  his  appointment, 
in  the  new  world  —  was  clearly  ascertained,  there  was  no  trace  of 
Charles  Lowndes,  nor  any  one  of  his  name. 

In  the  autumn  of  1872,  the  writer,  who  was  then  in  London, 
procured  some  additional  lists  of  wills  registered  at  Doctors'  Com- 
mons, under  the  name  of  Lowndes,  with  copies  of  the  names  of  all 
persons  mentioned  in  them.  Among  them  he  read  the  name  of 
Charles  Lowndes  as  found  in  the  will  of  Frances  Lowndes  of  Covent 
Garden.  A  copy  of  the  will  was  immediately  procured.  While  it 
was,  at  once,  evident  that,  although  her  name  nowhere  appeared  in 
the  history  of  the  Hassall  family,  she  could  have  belonged  to  no 
other,  and  that  her  place  in  the  record  could  be  marked  out  with 
absohite  precision,  it  was  also  apparent  that  the  omission  of  her 
name  was  not  the  only  one  of  her  generation,  and  that  further 
additions  to  tiie  family  genealogy  would  probably  be  found. 

In  the  summer  of  1874,  by  the  kindness  of  INIiss  Reddall,  a  copy 
of  the  will  of  William  Weld  of  Weld  House  and  Hassall  Ilnll,  who 
died  in  1705,  in  which  the  name  of  Charles  Lowndes  the  elder 
occurs,  was  furnished  the  Avritcr,  and  from  Mr.  William  H.  Turner 


10 

were  received  abstracts  of  certain  deeds  relative  to  the  Lowndes 
property  at  Congleton.* 

From  these  various  papers,  tlie  following  genealogical  sketch  has 
been  prepared,  imperfect  as  it  must  always  remain  from  the  destruc- 
tiop  of  so  many  records  in  the  disorganized  condition  of  South 
Carolina  during  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  genealogy,  however, 
establishes  perfectly  the  connection  which  was  known  by  tradition  to 
have  existed  between  the  old  family  of  Cheshire  and  the  officers  of 
the  crown  in  the  province  of  South  Carolina  a  century  and  a  quarter 
ago. 

William'  Lowndes,!  a  descendant  of  a  younger  son  of  the  family  of 
Lowndes,  of  Overton,  in  Smallwood,  and  itself  a  branch  of  the  ancient 
ftimily  of  Lowndes  of  Legh  Hall,  near  Middlewich,  bought,  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  Bostock  House  in  Little  Hassall,  in  the  parish  of  Sand- 
bach,  all  in  the  county  Palatine  of  Chester,  from  the  family  of  Bostock  of 

Moreton  Say  in  the  county  of  Salop.     He  married  Ellen,  daughter  of , 

and  had  issue : 

i.  Ellen, 2  bapt.  Sept.  25,  1580. 

ii.  Joan,"  bapt.  Oct.  21,  1582. 

ill.  WiLLLMi,^  bapt.  June  9,  1585,  who  died  in  childhood. 

2.  iv.   RicH.\RD,^  who  succeeded  as  heir. 

V.    Thom.\s,2  bapt.  March  15,  1590-1 ;  buried  May  8,  1591. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  4th  June,  1590,  and  by  his  will,  proved  9th  October  in 
the  same  year,  appointed  his  wife,  and  his  brothers  Kichard  and  Taomas, 
executors  of  his  will. 

2.     Richard^  Loavndes,  gent.,  of  Bostock    House,  baptized  22d  Jan. 

1587-8;    married   1 1th  Aug.   IGl  1,  lilizabeth,  daughter  of Rawlins, 

and  had  issue : 

i.     Margery,"  bapt.  Sept.  17,  1012. 

ii.    Elizabeth,"  bapt.  Oct.  22,  1013. 

iii.  EicHARD,"  bapt.  April  19.  1015,  who  died  in  infancy. 

iv.  Ellen,"  bapt.  Feb.  27,  1017-18. 

By  his  second  wife,  Mai'gery,  daughter  of ,  Mr.  Lowndes  had  one 

son :  — 

3.  V.  John." 

*■  B}'  the  will  of  William  WeUl,  liis  estates  passed  to  liis  srrcat  ncplicw,  Richard  Lowndes, 
of  13o.stock  House  and  llassall  Hall,  sou  of  Richard,  and  ncplicw  of  Charles  Lowndes  the 
elder.  From  the  accession  of  Mr  Richard  Lowndes  to  the  Hassall  i)ro))erty,  Bostock 
House  ceased  to  he  the  family  residence.  Ormerod,  in  his  History  of  Cheshire,  thus 
describes  the  estates  of  Bostock  and  Hassall  Hall,  as  they  appealed  in  1818. 

Of  Bostock  Hall,  he  says:  "The  hall,  from  which  this  estate  derives  its  name,  is  a  fi\rm 
house,  containiufj  within  its  walls  some  jiortion  of  an  ancient  mansion,  which  was  defended 
by  a  moat,  of  wliich  a  i)art  is  reinaitiing,  and  was  the  projjerty  and  occasional  residence  of 
the  Bostocks  of  INlorcton  Say,  co.  Salop.  Henry  Bostock  of  that  jilacc,  by  an  Inq.p.m. 
23.  I'"Jiz.,  is  found  tu  hold  (inter  alia)  lands  in  Hassall  IVoni  the  lord  of  Hnlheld,  in  st)cage." 

"  The  Hall  of  Hassall  is  a  very  rcspectalile  rcj-idcncc,  liiiishcil  with  fj.djles,  and  surrounded 
Avith  anticpiated  fiardens  and  offices.  'I'he  situation  is  on  an  elevated  knoll,  where  the 
neighborinji  country  undulates  agreeably,  and  the  cireumstanees  of  the  term  interest  of  the 
possessor,  '*  with  impeachment  of  waste,"  liave  already  ornamented  it  with  pleasure  gromids 
and  hedge  rows,  with  trees  of  growth  and  proportions  strikingl}'  d1stin;;uishcd  from  those 
of  the  adjacent  townships." 

t  Burke's  History  of  the  Commoners. 


11 

On  4th  Jan.  1G51,  Mrs.  Margery  Lowndes  died,  and  Mr.  Lowndes  dying 
20th  Ajiril,  1G.J2,  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

3.  JoHX^  LoWNDKS,  gent.,  of  Bostock  House,  baptized  2  ttli  April, 
102.1.  lie  married  Jane-,  danghter  of  John  "Wekle,  gent.,  of  Wold  House, 
in  Newbold  Astburv,  and  co-heir  to  her  brother,  William  AVeld,  Eh(i.,  of 
Weld  House  and  llassall  Hall. 

By  his  wife  Jane,  Mr.  Lowndes  had  ten  children : 

i.  RrcHARD,*  bapt.  at  Sandbacli,  Oet.  13,  1045,  who  succeeded  as  heir. 

ii.  John',"*  bapt.  at  Sandlv.icii,  Nov.  8,  lf)46. 

iii.  Mary,*  bapt.  at  .Suidbaeh,  June  J,  1H4K  ;  ni.  — ~-  Savyle. 

iv.  AuDREV,*  bapt.  at  Sandbach.  June  5,  1649;  m.  John  Walker. 

V.  Ellen,*  bapt.  at  Sandbacli,  April  I'J,  10')1;  in.  Robert  Bennett. 

vi.  CuRiSTOPUER,'*  ba])t.  at  Sandbacli,  Aug.  27,  1652. 

vii.  Edward,*  bapt.  at  Sandbacli,  Aug.  1,  IG53. 

Not  long  after  the  birth  of  his  seventh  child,  INIr.  Lowndes,  as  appears  by 
the  deeds  of  Congleton  Borough,  moved  to  Middlewich.*  where,  by  an 
indenture  dated  loth  Oct.  l()o7,  he  made  a  feoffment  to  W^illiam  Welde  of 
Newbold  Astbury  and  John  Welde  of  London  of  certain  i)renuses  which  he 
held  as  heir  of  his  father  Kichard  Lowndes.  It  is  [)robal)le  that  there  were 
born  to  Mr.  Lowndes,  while  a  resident  of  Middh^wich.  his  younger  cliildren, 
of  wdiose  existence  the  compilers  of  the  family  history  a[)pear  to  have  been 
unaware ;  for,  in  addition  to  the  children  whose  baptisms  are  recorded  in  the 
Sandbach  records,  Mr.  Lowndes  had : 

viii.  Frances.* 
4.  ix.     CuARLES,*  Avho  was  bapt.  at  Middlewich,  Dec.  6,  1058,  and  was  described 
in  tlie  parish  register  as  "  son  of  John  Lovvnes." 
X.     William.* 

Mr.  Lowndes  made  his  will  18th  jMay,  1G67,  and  died  the  same  day.  He 
was  buried  two  days  later  at  Sandbach.  His  wife,  who  was  co-executrix  of 
his  will,  died  2d  Feb.  1  690,  and  was  buried  at  AVorthenbury  in  Flintshire. 

Frances^  Lowndes,  of  Covent  Garden,  made  her  will  2'Jth  IMarch,  1  G!)0. 
She  did  not  long  survive,  for  the  will  was  proved  11th  April  following.  Li 
her  will  she  mentions  her  mother  Jane,  her  brothers  Richard  *  and  Charles,'* 
lier  sisters  Mary,*  Audrey  *  and  Ellen.*  and  their  husbands,  who  have  not, 
hitherto,  been  anywhere  recorded.  She  also  mentions  her  sister-in-law 
Sarah,  wife  of  Charles,*  and  their  son  Charles,*  to  whom  she  left  a  beiiuest 
of  money  which  was  to  be  paid  him  when  he  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years.  She  also  mentions  her  cousin,  Ann  Whittingham,  the  daughter  of 
her  mother's  sister,  Elizabeth  Weld,  who  had  married  Thomas  Whittingham, 
gent.,  of  Brereton. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  place  that  the  brother  of  ]\Irs.  Jane  Weld 
Lowndes,  William  Weld,  of  Weld  House  and  Hassall  Hall,  who  died  at 
Hassall,  and  was  buried  at  Sandbach,  23d  April,  1705,  bequeathed  by  will  to 
his  nephew  Charles*  Lowndes,  the  elder,  an  annuity  of  £5.     No  trace  of 

*  Midcllowich  and  Saadbaeh  arc  ad.jnininir  parishes,  and  tlic  I,owndcs  family  wliidi  liad 
Ih'cii  settled  ill  tlic  nciflliliorliood  iVoin  tlie  earjiot  dates  had  beeumc  wealiliy,  in  the  seven- 
teenth ceiitiiry,  tVoiii  their  sueeess  in  the  o])eiiinii  of  salt  mines  on  their  iiropcrty.  OCtlie.sc 
mines  in  Ciieshirc  wliich  have  now  been  worked  for  several  centuries,  an  English  writer 
(Littell'sLiviiiiz:  Age,  May  2, 1874,  No.  15G0,  p.  319)  says,  in  1871  an  eiiorinoiis"  amount  of 
salt  was  sent  out  of  that  country  to  foreign  lands  and  tlic  home  market.  "The  tlemand 
iiuTcascs,  and  the  supply  as  yet  shows  no  sign  of  failure,  for  the  salt  district  occupies  about 
twenty  six  square  miles,  of  wliieli  not  more  than  five  have  been  hitherto  worked.  As  a 
single  square  yard  of  surface  is  reckoned  to  cover  (aic  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  f^alt,  it 
will  be  understood  that  the  total  iiuantity  is  amazing." 


12 

the  three  younger  children  of  John"  Lowndes  had  been  found  by  Mr.  Burke 
in  the  Hassall  papers,  nor  was  their  existence  known  to  the  representatives 
of  the  family  in  England,  until  the  discovery  of  the  existence  of  Frances* 
and  Charles  *  had  led,  at  the  request  of  the  writer,  to  a  re-examination  of 
the  early  wills,  and  the  discovery  by  Miss  Reddall  in  the  will  of  William 
Weld,  of  the  tenth  child,  William  *  Lowndes,  of  whom,  however,  we  have 
no  other  trace. 

4.  Charles*  Lowndes,  the  elder,  as  he  was  known  and  described 
in  the  family  papers,  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  ,  and  had  one  son  : 

5.  i.    Charles,*  b. ' — -. 

5.  Charles  '  Lowndes,  the  younger,  the  ancestor  of  all  of  the  name 
of  Lowndes  in  South  Carolina,  Avho  emigrated  in  early  life  to  St.  Christo- 
pher's, or,  as  it  is  usually  called,  St.  Kitts,  the  largest  of  the  Leeward 
Islands.       Soon   after  his   arrival   he    married    Ruth,    daughter  of   Henry 

llawlins  and '  his  wife.*     By  this  marriage  he  connected  himself  with 

a  numerous  and  influential  family,  long  established  in  the  island,  for,  as 
early  as  1635,  the  name  of  Rawlins  is  found,  and  more  than  once  among 
the  list  of  passengers  to  St.  Ivitts  from  England.  Henry  Rawlins  was 
in  the  third  generation  of  planters  there,  and  although  he  had  been  at  one 
time  a  heavy  loser  by  the  depredations  of  the  French  cruisers,  as  appears 
by  a  record  of  the  year  1705  in  the  state  paper  office  at  London,  showing 
that  he  had  sustained  damage  on  one  such  occasion,  to  the  amount  of 
£901,  15s.  3d.,  of  which  a  third  part  was  subsequently  recovered,  he  was 
enabled  to  bequeath  to  his  daughter  a  considerable  estate,  both  real  and 
personal.  Mr.  Lowndes,  whose  three  children  were  born  to  him  before  the 
year  1723,  embarrassed  his  property  by  free  living  and  an  unrestrained 
expenditure,  as  his  grandchildren  were  informed  by  their  father,  and,  in 
1730,  having  resigned  his  position  in  the  Council  as  representative  of  the 
parish  of  St.  Peter,  Basseterre,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  the  previous 
year,  sailed  with  his  family  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  He  was  soon 
after  followed  by  his  negroes  and  movable  property,  paying  £25  duties 
upon  his  slaves,  and  £54.  8*.  Sd.  on  his  effects.  He  executed  a  mortgage, 
recorded  in  the  registry  of  deeds  at  Charleston,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1731, 
to  secure  certain  bills  of  exchantje  drawn  bv  him  on  the  18th  of  February 
previous. t 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  in  Charleston,  March,  173G.     His  children  were: 

0.  i.     William.*^ 

7.  ii.    Chaules.'' 

8.  ill.  Rawlins,''  b.  January,  1721. 

G.  William®  Lowndes,  the  eldest  of  these  brothers,  accompanied  his 
mother  on  her  return  to  St.  Kitts  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  whom  she 
survived  more  than  twenty-seven  years,  dying  in  Christ  Church,  Nichola 
Town,  25th  July,  17G3.     She  was  buried  there  on  the  following  day. 

*  Mr.  Elliott  was  not  able  to  find  the  record  of  Mr.  Henry  Rawlins's  marriage.  In  a  law- 
suit, instituted  in  1716,  at  St.  Kitts,  the  papers  of  which  arc  ])reserved  among  the  colonial 
records  at  London,  there  is  a  deposition  of  one  Robert  Davis,  showing  that  Henry  Rawlins  and 
Ruth  Garner,  widow,  had  seized  a  long  time  before  upon  land  in  Basseterre,  to  which 
T)a\-is  conceived  he  had  a  claim,  and  the  deposition  recites  much  of  Mr.  Rawlins's  doings, 
but  says  nothing  further  of  the  widow  Garner.  The  assumption  is  reasonal)le  that  Mr. 
Rawlins  married  the  widow,  and  that  Mrs.  Charles  Lowndes  had  thus  received  at 
bai)ti-m  the  name  of  Ruth  from  her  mother  who  bore  it. 

t  Among  the  acts  passed  in  1733  by  the  Colonial  Legislature  was  one  entitled,  "An  act  to 
encourage  Chaiies  Lowndes,  Esquire,  to  make  a  new  machine  to  Pound  and  Beat  Rice  and 
to  appropriate  the  benclit  thereof  to  himself." 


13 

William  Lowndes  was  married  at  Christ  Church,  April  7th,  1739,  to 
Marj,  daugliter  of  Nicholas  and  Mary  Taylor.     Their  children  were : 

i.   Mary  J  bapt.  June  1,  1740. 

ii.  Joun-TaylorJ  Inipt.  Aiii;.  1,  1744,  named  in  the  will  of  his  uncle  Charles 

Lowndes.     Jolin-Taylor'  Lowndes  m. and  had  :  — 

i.  John  Lnicndes,"  m. ,  dau.  of Bailey  of  Domenica,  and  had  : 

i.  Henrietta,^  m.  Rev.  Henry  Newman,  of  Roseau,  Donienica. 
ii.  Grace,'  m. Walsh,  of  Roseau,  Domenica,  and  had  issue. 

Mr.  John^  Lowndes  was  Surveyor-general  of  Dominica.    lie  died  in  1812. 

7.  Charles^  Lowndes,  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  was  about 
seventeen  years  of  age.  His  portrait,  taken  not  long  before  his  death, 
represents  a  v'ery  tall  man,  with  a  countenance  indicating  great  determina- 
tion and  fixity  of  purpose,  traits  which  have  been  recognized  in  Carolina  as 
characteristics  of  the  race  since  Thomas  Lowndes,  as  agent  for  the  duke 
of  Newcastle,  had  first  visited  the  colony,  as  early  as  1G85.  Charles* 
Lowndes  finished  his  education  under  the  care  of  Mi-.  Robert  Hall,  a  lawyer 
of  position  and  influence,  and  soon  after  established  himself  as  a  planter  in 
Colleton  County.  In  1752,  he  was  appointed  Provost  Marshal  in  immediate 
succession  to  his  brother  Rawlins,®  and  held  the  office  several  years.  He 
married  Sarah,  daughter  of Parker,  and  had  : 

i.  Charles,^  m.  Jeannie  Perry.* 
Mr.  Lowndes  made  his  will  18th  Jan.  17G3,  and  died  the  same  year.     Li 
his  will,  which  was  proved  in  the  following  May,  he  luentioned  his  brother 
Rawlins,*    and    his    nephew    John    Taylor^    Lowndes,  of   St.  Kitts,   and 
bequeathed  his  estate  to  his  wife  and  son. 

8.  Rawlins  *  Lowndes,  who  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age  when  his 
mother  returned  to  St.  Kitts,  had  been  placed  by  her  in  the  family  of  the 
resident  provost  marshal,  Mr.  Robert  Hall,  as  his  guardian.  This  gentleman, 
who  possessed  a  large  library,  of  which  his  ward  was  a  diligent  student, 
carefully  directed,  during  the  four  remaining  years  of  his  most  useful  life, 
the  education  of  his  pupil  in  the  study  of  the  law^  Such  was  the  value  of 
Mr.  Hall's  training,  and  such  was  the  diligence  of  young  ]Mr.  Lowndes,  that 
on  the  death  of  his  guardian  in  January,  1740,  it  proved  to  be  the  well-nigh 
imanimous  desire  of  the  provincial  bar  that  the  position  of  Provost  Marshal 
should  be  but  temporarily  filled,  and  the  permanent  appointment  reserved 
till  he  came  of  age  and  be  enabled  to  take  the  oath  of  office.  Early  in 
1742,  Mr.  Lowndes  received  the  appointment,  which  he  held  for  ten  years, 
when  he  was  succeeded,  as  we  have  already  seen,  by  his  brother  Chai'les.* 

The  office  of  Provost  Mai-shal  corresponded  to  that  of  High  Sheriff,  and 
had  been  granted  to  Mr.  Thomas  Lowndes,  of  Westminster,  Gent.,  27tli 
Sept.  1725.  A  copy  of  his  Patent,  which  contains  a  curious  provision,  is 
jjreserved  at  the  Record  Office,  London. f 

*  The  aiuliority  for  tins  lady's  name  depends  solely  upon  an  old  rliyme,  for  which  the 
neighl)oiliood  rather  than  the  family  were  responsible,  liauded  down  through  the  retentive 
memory  of  the  late  Hun.  James  L.  Petigru  : 

"  H — II  of  a  wedding  over  the  Ferry ; 
Charley  Lowndes  to  Jeannie  Perry." 

The  ferry,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  this  old  fashioned  jollification  seems  to  have 
taken  place,  was  Parker's  Ferry,  on  the  Edisto  River. 

t  Plantations  General,  vol.  51,  p.  G3. 

"172o,  Sept.  27th,  Patent  for  Mr.  Tho:  Lowndes  to  be  Provost  Marshall,  Clerk  of  the 
Peace  and  Clerk  of  the  Crown  in  South  Carolina." 

"  KNOW  all  Men  by  these  Presents,  tliat  We  the  true  and  absolute  Lords  Proprietors  of 
Caroliua,  do  hereby  give  and  grant  unto  Thomas  Lowndes,  Gent.,  his  Heirs  and  Assigns 


14 

After  Mr.  Lowndes  retired  from  office  and  commenced  the  active  practice 
of  the  law,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He  carried 
as  zealous  a  spirit  of  fidelity  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties  into  this  assembly 
as  he  did  to  the  conduct  of  his  cases  at  the  bar.  By  his  untiring  industry 
and  impressive  speech,  no  less  than  by  his  intellectual  power  and  that 
spirit  of  absolute  independence  by  which  he  was  best  known  among  the 
public  men  of  his  time,  Mr.  Lowndes  soon  rose  to  be  Speaker  of  the  House, 
lie  was  also  Justice  of  the  Quorum.  He  discharged  upon  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  Powell,  a  ])rinter  of  Charleston,  who  had  been  imprisoned  by  the 
Governor  and  Council.  In  17G6,  he  received  from  the  Crown  the  appoint- 
ment of  associate  judge. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  17G6,  he  delivered  the  first  judicial  opinion  rendered 
in  America  upon  the  Stamp  Act,  declaring  it  against  common  rights  and  the 
Constitution,  and  refusing  to  enforce  it  in  his  court.  His  rapid  success  at 
nisi  prills,  and  his  superior  influence  with  juries,  excited  the  enmity  of  Chief 
Justice  Gordon,  who  laid  before  the  Governor  and  Council  charges  of  mis- 
behavior against  him.  He  was,  however,  unanimously  acquitted.  In  1775, 
he  was  removed  from  the  Bench  under  the  prerogative  of  the  Governor,  owing 
to  a  letter  of  the  Attorney  General,  Simpson,  who  was  also  Secretary  to  the 
Governor  and  Council,  and  thus  in  a  position  to  have  great  influence  with  them. 
Simpson,  who  feared  the  impending  troubles,  shortly  after  returned  to  England. 
Mr.  Lowndes's  reputation  as  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Province  had,  how- 
ever, become  so  well  known  in  England,  that,  on  information  of  his  removal 
by  the  Colonial  Authority,  the  Home  Government  appointed  Gordon  to  a 
situation  in  Jamaica,  and  dii-ected  the  commission  of  Chief  Justice  of  South 
Carolina  to  be  issued  in  favor  of  Mr.  Lowndes. 

The  Provincial  Congress,  as  it  was  styled,  called  in  defiance  of  the  royal 
authority,  met  on  the  first  of  June,  1775.  Heniy  Laurens  was  chosen 
President.  A  Committee  of  Safety  was  immediately  appointed,  which  con- 
sisted of  thirteen  members  who  were  vested  with  supreme  power.     Of  this 

the  Office  and  Place,  and  Offices  and  Places  of  Provost  Marshall,  Clerk  of  the  Peace,  and 
Clerk  of  the  Crorcn  of  and  in  tlie  Province  of  Soiitli  Carolina  in  America,  for  the  several 
and  respective  natui'al  lives  of  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes  and  Hugh  Watson  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  Gent.,  to  execute  the  same  by  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes^  his  heirs  and  assigns,  or 
by  his  or  their  sufficient  Deputy  or  Deputies.  Atid  we  do  hereby  authorize  and  impower 
the  said  Thomas  Lowndes,  His  Heirs  and  Assigns  to  demand  and  receive  take  and  enjoy  all 
Salaries, Wages,Fees,Allowances,Profits,  Perquisites,  Travelling  Charges,  Bill  Mony,  Benefits, 
Liimunities,  Privileges,  Advantages  aiul  Emoluments  anywise  incitlent  or  appertaining  to 
the  said  Offices  or  Places  or  any  of  them  in  as  ample  and  beneficial  manner  as  any  former 
Provost  Marshall  or  Marshalls,  Clerk  of  the  Peace,  and  Clerk  of  the  Crown  of  any  other 
Province  or  Colciny  in  America,  have  or  hath  used,  had  received  or  enjoyed.  And  Lastly 
AVe  do  hereby  revoke  and  make  void  all  former  commissions  granted  for  all  or  any  of  the 
said  Offices  or  Places  hv  us  or  l)y  our  Predecessors,  or  by  any  Governor  or  Governors  of  the 
said  Province  of  South  Carolina.  Witness  our  hands  and  the  seal  of  the  said  Province  this 
twenty-seventh  Day  of  September,  Anno  Domini,  172-5. 

[Signed]        Beaufort  Jon.  Tyrrell 

Craven  Hen.  Bertie 

Ja.  Bertie  J.  Colleton." 

This  patent  was  accompanied  by  the  further  grant  to  Thomas  Lowndes  of  four  baronies 
of  land  in  the  province,  of  twelve  thousand  acres  each,  by  possession  of  which  he  became 
one  of  the  original  landgraves  of  the  colony.  When  the  government  of  Carolina  was  taken 
from  the  Lords  Proprietors  in  1729,  Mr.  Lowndes  surrendered  his  patent,  and  in  the  following 
year  received  a  renewal  of  it  from  the  crown,  under  date  80tli  Nov.  1730.  Hardly  two 
mouths  later,  lltb  Feb.  1731,  Mr.  Lowndes  assigned  it  to  George  Morlcy,  who  soon  after 
left  Entrland  for  Charleston,  and  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office."  In  1736",  Morley  returned 
to  England,  and  on  his  nomination,  Mr.  Pvobert  Hall  was  appointed  to  succeed  him,  and 
held  the  office,  as  we  have  seen,  till  his  death.  A  temporary  appointment  was  then  given 
liy  the  governor.  Colonel  Bull,  to  Mr.  William  Williamson,  who  held  it  till  the  1st  March, 
1742-3,  when  Rawlins  Lowndes  received  his  commission. 


15 

committee  Mr.  Lowiules  was  chosen  the  third  member,  being  preceded  only 
by  Mr.  Laurens  and  Mr.  Charles  Pinckney.  Tiiat  he  was  influential  in 
their  debates  may  be  seen  in  the  following  letter  of  Andrew  Marvell  to 
William  Henry  Drayton,  written  at 

"Charleston,  Sunday,  August  12th,  1775. 
"  I  have  twice  pushed  hard  for  the  '  Resolution  for  attaching  Estates  in 
case  of  Desertion,'  but  have  not  been  lucky  enough  to  get  a  second.  The 
matter,  however,  is  not  rejected,  only  postponed.  Rawlins  postponator  de- 
clares the  resolution  not  proper  to  proceed  from  the  Committee  of  South 
Carolina,  and  so  arbitrary,  that  nothing  but  the  Divan  of  Constantinople 
coulil  think  of  promulgating  such  a  law." 

He  opposed  the  pretensions  of  the  British  Government,  as  violations  of 
the  rights  of  English  sulijects,  and  he  was  the  first  to  denounce  on  the  floor 
of  the  House  the  claim  of  taxation  without  parliamentary  representation 
as  the  chief  grievance  of  all.  Yet,  while  there  were  none  in  their  atti- 
tude more  bold  than  he  in  Carolina,  he  did  not  till  the  last  abandon  the  hope 
of  reconciliation  with  England.  Either  from  his  training  as  a  lawyer,  his 
position  as  a  judge,  and  his  peculiar  means  of  ascertaining  the  temper  of  the 
friends  of  the  Colonies  in  England,  he  had  been  led,  as  he  stated  later  in 
life,  to  the  belief  that  the  early  measures  of  hostility  would  lead  to  recon- 
ciliation and  to  the  retirement  of  the  British  Ministry  from  their  unfortunate 
position  on  colonial  (piestions. 

Ilis  opposition  to  all  harsh  acts  at  this  time  and  to  the  declaration  of  inde- 
])endence  in  the  Colony  was  consistent  with  his  uniform  policy  to  oppose  all 
measures  that  would  tend  to  close  the  door  to  reconciliation,  while  there  was 
yet  a  hope  of  success.  A  fortnight  later,  the  last  Ro3'al  Governor,  Lord 
William  Campbell,  arrived  to  supersede  Colonel  William  Bidl.  The  Pro- 
vincial Congress  made  him  an  address  which  he  refused  to  receive,  as  he  did 
to  recognize  their  existence.  On  the  IGth  of  the  following  September,  he 
fled  to  the  British  ship-of-war  Tamar,  carrying  the  great  seal  of  the 
Colony.  Six  months  later,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  1776,  South 
Carolina  declared  her  independence  of  the  British  Crown,  and  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge  was  elected  President  of  the  State.  Mr.  Lowndes,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  committee  of  eleven  to  devise  a  plan  of  government,  was  chosen  a 
nieml)er  of  the  legislative  council. 

On  the  lOth  of  March,  1778,  he  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  of  South 
Carolina,  and  was  so  formally  proclaimed  at  the  State  House  on  that  day, 
"  under  the  discharge  of  the  Aitillery  both  from  the  Troops  and  Forts  and 
the  dischai-ge  of  small  arms."*  He  gave  his  approval  to  the  Constitution 
of  1778,  by  which  the  power  to  reject  a  legislative  act,  the  veto  power,  which 
had  been  vested  in  the  Executive,  was  relincpiished,  and  a  subject  of  earnest 
contention  in  the  State,  since  John  Rutledge  had  rejected  the  flrst  bill  for  a 
reformed  constitution,  was  thus  settled  in  favor  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people. 

After  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  the  United  States  had 
l)een  concluded,  the  British  Government  sent  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  Governor 
Johnstone,  and  ]\Ir.  Edenf  to  America,  as  commissioners  authorized  to  offer 

*  Letter  of  James  C.ninon  to  tlic  Honorable  George  Boyle,  Vice-President  of  tlie  Com- 
monwealth of  Pennsylvania,  IttU  March,  177S. 
t  llamsay,  i.  p.  29 J. 

a 


IG 

Congress  a  repeal  of  all  those  Acts  of  the  Crown  which  had  led  the  Colo- 
nies to  declare  their  independence,  and  to  threaten  with  the  extreme  penal- 
ties of  war  all  those  who  should  continue  to  prefer  an  alliance  with  France 
to  a  re-union  with  the  mother  country.  The  Commissioners,  repelled  by 
Congress,  determined  to  address  the  people  of  each  state,  and  sent  a  vessel 
under  a  Hag  into  the  port  of  Charleston,  with  their  propositions  separately 
addressed  to  the  governor,  the  assembly,  the  military,  the  clergy,  and  the 
people  of  South  Carolina.  By  order  of  President  Lowndes,  the  vessel  was 
detained  in  the  roadstead,  below  the  harbor,  until  the  council  was  convened, 
and  the  chief  men  of  each  class  of  the  people  to  whom  these  propositions 
were  addressed,  weie  assembled.  When  the  letter  of  the  Commissioners 
had  been  opened  and  read,  a  resolution  was  drawn  up  and  unanimously 
voted  requiring  the  Hag-ship  to  immediately  leave  the  waters  of  the  State. 
President  Lowndes  accompanied  the  resolution  with  a  stern  reprimand  of 
the  attempt  to  violate  the  constitution  of  the  country,  by  the  otter  to  nego- 
tiate with  the  state  in  its  separate  capacity. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1778,  that  the 
British  authoiities  intended  to  transfer  the  seat  of  active  hostilities  to  the 
southern  states.  President  Lowndes  laid  a  general  embai'go,  and  jirohibited 
the  sailing  of  vessels  from  any  port  of  the  State.*  He  ordered  all  live 
stock  from  the  islands  and  exposed  parts  of  the  coast  to  be  transported 
inland,  and  sent  an  address  to  the  Legislature  calling  upon  them  to  take  the 
most  energetic  measui^es  for  successful  resistance.  In  that  message,  he  said, 
"  Our  inveterate  and  obdurate  enemy,  foiled  in  the  northern  states,  and  by 
the  valpr  and  good  conduct  of  the  inhabitants  compelled  to  abandon  their 
hope  of  conquest  there,  have  turned  their  arms  more  immediately  against 
the  southern  states,  in  hopes  of  better  success.  They  are  now  in  possession 
of  Savannah,  the  capital  of  Georgia,  from  whence,  if  not  prevented,  an  easy 
transition  may  be  made  into  this  country.  This  situation  of  danger,  gentle- 
men, calls  for  your  most  serious  consideration.  Our  whole  force  and  strength 
should  be  exerted  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  enemy." 

President  Lowndes  gave  to  General  Lincoln,  who  had  been  sent  by  Con- 
gress from  the  Noi'th  to  the  command  of  the  southern  department,  an  earnest 
support,  and  exerted  his  official  and  private  influence  in  vigilant  and  unre- 
mitted efforts  for  the  defence  of  Charleston. 

In  1779,  Mr.  Lowndes  was  succeeded  in  the  Presidency  by  John  Rut- 
leflge.  He  shared,  however,  in  the  defence  of  Charleston,  and  was  person- 
ally a  heavy  sutterer  by  the  enemy's  depredations  along  the  coast  and  rivers, 
as  he  was  obliged  on  one  occasion  to  drive  into  Charleston,  in  his  carriage 
hauled  by  a  yoke  of  oxen,  his  horses  having  all  been  carried  ofFby  a  sudden  raid. 

On  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency,  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of 
the  Senate  from  St.  P)ailholomew's,  the  parish  he  had  before  I'epresented  in 
the  other  House.  Upon  the  declaration  of  peace,  he  was  chosen  to  the 
Legislature  as  Representative  from  Charleston,  and  was  continued  in  this 
position  by  reelection  until  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Colum- 
bia led  him  to  decline  further  service. 

Tbe  constitution  of  the  United  States,  I'ecommended  by.  the  general 
convention  at  Philadelphia,  in  1787,  was  received  by  the  legislature  of  South 
Carolina,  and  read  before  the  House  of  Representatives  on  tlie  IGth  of 
January,  1788.    It  was  debated  for  three  days  in  Committee  of  the  Whole — 

*  Ramsay,  i.  p  293. 


17 

by  Charles  Pinckiiey,  Gen.  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  John  Rutledge, 
and  Pierce  Butler,  wlio  liad  been  deleg-ates  to  the  Federal  Convention, — 
by  the  Speaker,  John  Julius  Priiigle,  by  Robert  Barnwell,  Edward  Rutledge, 
Dr.  David  Ramsay  the  historian,  all  men  of  signal  ability,  the  reputation 
of  whose  talents  has  long  survived  them,  and  all  in  favor  of  the  constitution, 
and  by  Rawlins  Lowndes  alone  on  behalf  the  minority  in  opposition  to  it.* 
Among  the  discussions  upon  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  there  is  no 
debate  more  able,  nor,  in  the  light  of  history  since,  is  there  one  more  curious 
and  interesting.  Mr.  Lowndes,  who  spoke  four  times,  objected  principally 
to  the  restrictions  u[)on  slavery,  nor  did  he  shrink  as  others  did  from  saying 
so, — to  the  provisions  which  gave  Congress  power  to  regulate  commerce, 
and  to  the  centralization  of  i)ower  in  the  Federal  Government.  Pie  concluded 
on  the  third  day  in  these  words: 

"  I  desire  to  thank  the  House  for  their  very  great  indulgence  in  permitting 
me,  on  behalf  of  those  members  who  have  desired  that  I  should  fully  express 
my  sentiments,  to  debate  it  at  such  length.  The  vast  importance  of  the 
subject  will  plead  my  excuse.  I  thank  the  gentlemen  on  tlie  other  side  of 
the  question  for  the  candid  and  fair  manner  in  which  they  have  answered 
my  arguments.  Popularity  is  what  I  have  never  courted,  but,  on  this  issue, 
I  have  spoken  merely  to  point  out  those  dangers  to  which  my  fellow  citizens 
are  exposed,  dangers  so  evident,  that,  when  I  cease  to  exist,  I  wish  for  no 
other  epitaph  than  to  have  inscribed  on  my  tomb,  '  Here  lies  the  man  who 
op^iosed  the  Constitution,  because  it  was  ruinous  to  the  liberty  of  America.' " 

When  the  question  on  the  assembly  of  the  convention  to  consider  the 
Constitution  was  about  to  be  put.  Colonel  James  Mason,  of  Little  River,  by 
desire  of  the  minority  members  of  the  House,  rose  and  formally  thanked  Mr. 
Lowndes  for  his  opposition. 

The  Convention  assembled  on  the  12th  of  Ma}'.  Mr.  Charles  Pinckney 
opened  the  debate  on  the  14th,  and  on  the  23d  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundi"e:l  and  forty  members  in  its  favor,  to  seventy-three 
in  opposition. 

The  debate  in  convention,  however,  attracted  but  little  notice  in  the  State, 
so  thoroughly  had  the  battle  been  fought  in  the  legislature.  The  opponents 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  had  lost  by  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Lowndes  to  stand 
for  St.  Bartholemews  the  leader  of  their  party,  nor  could  they  furnish  another 
to  give  dignity  and  interest  to  debate  by  a  forcible  presentation  of  such 
objections  as  had  occurred  to  the  ingenious  and  able  reasoning  of  Mr.  Lowndes. 

Many  years  ago,  one  who  remembered  him  well,  contributed  to  a  Southern 
journal  his  impressions  of  Mr.  Lowndes's  character  and  attainments  to  this 
effect. 

Possessed  of  a  strong  judgment,  a  clear,  logical,  and  discriminating  mind, 
he  enforced  his  opinions,  unmindful  of  their  popularity,  with  strength  and 
freedom.  In  a  debate,  at  Charleston,  when  the  question  of  the  right  of  his 
constituents  to  instruct  their  representatives  was  under  discussion  in  the 
House,  he  opposed  it  with  vehemence  and  great  force,  declaring  it  to  be  a 
pretension  which  recfuired  representatives  to  suppress  their  own  judgment 
and  substitute  that  of  others,  and  which  renders  their  oath  to  discharge  their 
duty  according  to  their  best  judgment,  a  mere  form  and  in  effect  a  sham. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married,  l.Oth  of  August,  1748,  Amarinthia,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Elliott,  of  Rintoules,  Stone  River.     Mrs.   Lowndes  died   14th  of 

*  Elliot's  Debate.?,  vol.  iv.  pp.  2.53-316. 


18 

January,  17o0,  and  was  buried  by  the  side  of  her  parents  at  the  cemetery 
near  Rantoules. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married,  2nd,  December  2od,  1751,  Mary,  daughter  of 

Cartwright,  of  Charleston.     By  this  lady  he  had : 

i.       Amarinthia,^  b.  July  29,  1754  ;  m.  Sept.  23,  177G,  Roger  Parker  Sanders, 

Esq.,  and  after  his  death,  married,  second, C'hauipney,  Esq. 

ii.      Mary,^  b.  Auii.  1755;  d.  unm. 

iii.    Rawlins  J  b.  November  5,  1757;  d.  in  childhood. 

iv.     Harriet,^  m. Brown,  and  had  : 

i.  Lowndes,^  who  m.  Margaretta  Livinfrston,  dau.  of  Hon.  John  R. 
Livingston,  third  son  of  Judge  Rol)ert  R.  Livingston,  of  New- 
York.     By  this  marriage  Mr.  Lowndes  Brown  had  : 

i.  Harriet- Lowndes,'^  who  m.  August,    1855,   Henry,  Baron 
Solwyns,  of  the  Belgian  Diplomatic  Service. 

V.      Sarah-Ruth/  b.  1764  ;  m. Simmons;  d.  1852. 

9.  vi.     TuoMAs/  b.  January  22,  1766. 

10.  vii.   James,'  b. ,  1769. 

Mr.   Lowndes   married,  third,  Sarah,  daughter  of Jones,  of  Geor- 
gia, and  had: 

11.  viii.  William'-Jones,  b.  Feb.  1782. 

B}-  his  success  at  the  bar  and  by  fortunate  investments  in  land  Mr.  Lowndes 
left  to  his  children  large  estates  on  the  Ashley,  Combaliee,  and  Santee  Rivers. 
He  died  in  Charleston,  24  August,  1800,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Philip's 
Church.  A  few  months  later,  bis  widow,  while  driving  with  her  son,  was 
thrown  from  a  chaise  and  instantly  killed. 

9.  Thomas^  Lovvndks  was  educated  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  and  at  the 
family  residence  on  tlie  Ashley  River. 

A  child  of  seven  years  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  old  enough 
to  fix  in  his  memory  as  they  occurred  the  entire  succession  of  events  which 
led  the  colonies  from  unheeded  petitions  for  redress  to  their  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  through  a  weary  and  painful  war  to  an  absolute  union 
of  independent  States.  He  was  already  of  age  when  he  studied,  as  part  of  his 
pi'eparation  for  the  practice  of  law,  those  debates  upon  the  new  Constitution 
he  may  have  heard  in  the  old  State  House  at  Charleston,  where  his  father 
had  stood  as  the  solitary  speaker  in  op|)osition  to  an  able  and  triumphant  • 
majority.  Inheriting  strong  powers  of  mind,  he  cultivated  in  his  youth  that 
taste  for  English  literature  and  the  study  of  constitutional  law,  which  has 
always  largely  characterized  the  best  minds  in  the  Southern  Slates.  Re- 
maining unmarried  till,  for  those  days,  the  somewhat  ripe  age  of  thii'ty-two, 
he  met  as  guests  at  his  father's  table  in  town  and  country  a  long  succession 
of  men  from  the  North  and  the  South  who  had  made  their  names  illustrious 
in  the  puldic  service,  either  in  ])eace  or  war.  lie  bad  been,  too,  an  attentive 
listenei'  to  their  interesting  discussions  upon  the  questions  bow  best  to  build 
up  a  fiee  Republic  in  the  new  world.  He  was  thus  by  study,  by  acquaintance 
and  by  family  tr.ulitioii,  no  less  tiian  by  the  almost  inevitable  tendencies  of 
the  jirofession  hi3  had  chosen  as  the  recognized  path  to  public  life,  a  politician, 
familial-  with  liie  whole  subject  of  national  legislation, — like  so  many  other 
lea<U;i-s  of  oi)inion  under  the  old  order  of  things  in  the  Cai-olinas, — and  he 
fitted  himself  with  care  foi'  his  turn  of  duty,  when  the  time  delermined  in 
his  own  mind  should  come. 

Lithe  autumn  of  DSUO,  a  few  months  after  his  fithcr's  death,  having 
already  served  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  he  accepted  from  the  Fede- 
ral  paity  the  nomination  of  Representative  from  the  Charleston  District  to 


19 

the  Seventh  Congress.  He  took  his  seat  at  the  opening  of  the  first  session 
on  the  7tli  of  December,  1801.  On  the  next  day  he  was  appointed  to  tlie 
Committee  of  Commerce  and  Manufactures,  and  was  prominent  from  tliat 
time  in  the  discussions  of  the  House.  As  early  as  Dec.  14th,  ahnost  in  tlie 
first  week  of  business,  he  spoke  upon  the  resolution  of  inquiry  into  the 
conduct  of  Mr.  Pickei'ing  when  Secretary  of  State,  and  he  took  part  in 
"  an  animated  debate," — as  the  National  Intelligencer  of  that  day,  more 
mindful  for  the  dignity  of  Congress  than  are  the  public  journals  of  our  own 
time,  described  in  language  somewhat  euphuistic  a  stormy  scene,  so  often 
repeated  afterwards  on  any  sectional  issue, — which  occurred  over  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Apportionment  Bill  providing  that  Maryland  should  be  entitled  to 
nine  rather  than  eight  rej)resentatives.  The  Intelligencer  tells,  us  that 
"  a  debate  of  the  utmost  dilatoriness  took  place.  Much  personal  recrim- 
iuation,  chiefly  on  the  charge  of  delay  on  the  one  side  and  precipitation  on 
the  other,  was  exchanged,  which  we  tliink  it  our  duty  entirely  to  suppress." 

]Mr.  Lowndes  on  the  loth  of  March,  1802,  opened  the  debate  on  the 
French  Spoliation  Claims,  speaking  in  favor  of  their  recognition,  and  urging 
prompt  measures  for  their  settlement.  Little  could  he,  or  any  statesman  of 
that  day,  foresee  the  uncertainties  of  legislation  which  the  history  of  this 
measure  was  in  itself  to  illustrate.  Reported  formally  to  Congress  again 
and  again  by  Committees,  it  finally  passed  both  Houses  only  to  become  A'oid 
by  the  refusal  of  the  Executive's  approval.  Again  revived  and  apparently  not 
yet  despaired  of,  these  claims,  now  as  old  as  the  century,  have  ;dready  outlived 
tliree  generations  of  public  men.  At  the  end  of  the  long  debate,  in  April, 
1802,  in  the  Act  providing  for  the  redemption  of  the  entire  public  debt  of 
the  United  States,  Mr.  Lowndes  was  in  the  minority  of  nineteen  members, 
all  federals,  who  voted  against  the  bill.* 

Constant  in  attendance  upon  the  House,  he  was  earnest  and  assiduous  in 
committee,  and  though  mingling  often  in  debate,  he  was  yet  able  to  contribute 
to  the  discussion  something  of  value  in  fact  and  much  of  weight  in  judgment, 
enforced  as  his  sentiments  always  were  by  a  natural  eloquence,  which  had 
been  carefully  cultivated  under  the  sound  opinions  then  entertained  by  all 
educated  men,  who  valued  the  study  of  oratory  not  as  that  of  a  graceful 
accomplishment,  but  as  the  mastery  of  an  essential  influence  and  tested  power 
over  the  emotions  and  conduct  of  men. 

In  the  intervals  between  the  sessions,  Mr.  Lowndes,  accomi)anied  b}'  his 
famil}',  visited  the  Northern  States,  and  passed  the  summer  in  New  England 
and  the  neighborhood  of  Boston.  He  was  warmly  welcome  d  by  liis  jioliti- 
cal  associates,  and  received  much  hospitality  from  them.  An  intimate  ac- 
(piaintance  with  many  northern  families  was  thus  established,  which  was 
maintained  with  unvarying  cordiality  through  life,  and  descended  to  his 
children. 

He  resumed  his  seat  at  the  Second  Session,  on  the  13th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1802.  On  the  22d  of  that  month,  he  spoke  in  the  discussion  on  the 
circulation  of  gold  coin,  wiiich,  owing  to  the  erroneous  valuation  put  by  the 
statute  upon  the  eagles  and  half  eagles  previously  coined,  below  tlieir  metallic 
worth,  had  led  to  their  being  everywhere  hoarded.  In  the  long  debate  on 
the  Gth  of  January,  1803,  on  the  cession  by  Spain  of  Louisiana  to  France, 
he  was  early  upon  the  floor,  ui-ging  with  force  the  proposed  call  upon  tlie 
Executive  for  the  precise  facts  of  the  transaction  which  had  been  withheld 
from  Congress. 

*  NiUioiKil  Iiitelliwiivcr,  1  llli  Apii!,  1802. 


20 

Mr.  Lowndes  was  re-chosen  to  the  Eiglith  Congress,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  House  on  the  2i)th  of  October,  1803.  He  spoke,  on  the  Gth 
and  8th  of  tlie  following  December,  on  the  constitutional  amendment  rela- 
tive to  the  method  of  election  of  President  and  Vice-President,  in  favor  of 
postponement  till  after  the  ensuing  election,  and  again  on  the  Gth  of  January, 
1804,  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  impeachment  of  Samuel  Chase,  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  was  tried  a  few  months  later  by  the  Senate, 
and  acquitted. 

At  their  session  of  this  year,  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  had 
passed  an  act  repealing  all  restrictions  upon  the  importation  of  slaves.  The 
subject  early  attracted  the  attention  of  Congress,  and  on  Tuesday,  14th  of 
February,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extract  from  the  debates, 
ihe  following  motion  by  JNIr.  Bard,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

"  Resolved,  that  a  tax  of  ten  dollars  be  imposed  upon  every  slave  imported 
into  any  part  of  the  United  States." 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Jackson,  it  was  agreed  to  add  after  the  words  United 
States,  "or  their  territories." 

Mr.  Lowndics.  "  I  will  trespass  a  very  short  time  upon  the  attention 
of  the  House  at  this  stage  of  the  business,  but  as  I  have  objections  to  the 
resolution,  it  may  be  proper  that  I  should  state  them  now.  I  will  do  so 
briefly,  reserving  to  myself  the  privilege  of  giving  my  opinion  more  at 
length  when  the  bill  is  before  the  House,  should  the  resolution  be  adopted, 
and  a  bill  brought  in.  I  am  sorry,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  find  that  tlie  conduct  of 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  repealing  its  law  prohibitory  of  the 
importation  of  negroes,  has  excited  so  much  dissatisfaction  and  resentment 
as  I  find  it  has  done  with  the  greater  part  of  this  House.  If  gentlemen 
will  take  a  dispassionate  review  of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  repeal 
was  made,  I  think  this  dissatisfaction  and  resentment  will  be  removed,  and 
I  should  indulge  the  hope  that  this  contemplated  tax  will  not  be  imposed. 
Antecedent  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  under  which  we  now  act, 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  importation 
of  negroes  from  Africa,  and  sanctioned  it  by  severe  penalties, — I  speak  from 
recollection,  but  I  believe  not  less  than  the  forfeiture  of  the  negro  and  a 
fine  of  one  bundled  pounds  sterling  for  each  brought  into  the  State.  This 
act  has  been  in  force  until  it  was  repealed  by  the  Legislature  at  their  last 


session. 


***** 


"  The  law  was  completely  evaded,  and  for  the  last  year  or  two,  Africans 
were  intioduced  into  the  country  in  numbers  little  short,  I  believe,  of  what 
they  would  have  been  had  the  trade  been  a  legal  one.  Under  the  circum- 
stances. Sir,  it  appears  to  me  to  have  been  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to 
repeal  the  law,  and  I'emove  from  the  eyes  of  the  people  the  spectacle  of  its 
authority  daily  violated. 

"  I  beg,  Sir,  that  from  what  I  have  said,  it  may  not  be  inferred  that  I  am 
friendly  to  a  continuation  of  the  slave  trade.  I  wish  the  time  had  arrived 
when  Congress  could  legislate  conclusively  upon  the  subject.  I  should  then 
have  the  satisfaction  of  uniting  with  tlie  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  who 
moved  the  resolution.  Whenever  it  does  arrive,  should  I  then  have  a  seat 
in  this  House,  I  assure  him  1  will  cordially  support  him  in  obtiiining  his 
object.  But,  AL-.  Speaker,  I  cannot  vote  for  this  resolution,  because  I  am 
sure  it  is  not  calculated  to  promote  the  object  which  it  has  in  view.     I  am 


.21 

convincefl  iliat  tlie  tax  of  ten  dollars  will  not  jirevent  the  introduction  into 
the  country  of  a  single  slave.  *  *  *  *  The  gentleman  from  Pennsjlvania, 
and  those  who  think  with  him,  ought,  above  all  others,  to  deprecate  the 
passing  of  this  resolution.  It  apjjears  to  me  to  be  directly  calculated  to 
defeat  their  own  object, — to  give  to  what  they  wish  to  discountenance  a 
legislative  sanction,  and,  further,  an  interest  to  the  government  to  permit 
this  trade  after  it  might  constitutionally  terminate  it.  AVhen  I  say  that  I 
am  myself  unfriendly  to  it,  I  do  not  wish,  JNIr.  Speaker',  to  be  misunderstood  ; 
I  do  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  are 
universally  opposed  to  it — I  know  the  fact  to  be  otht;rwise.  Many  of  the 
people  in  the  Southern  States  feel  an  interest  in  it,  and  will  yield  it  with 
reluctance.  Tiieir  interest  will  be  strengthened  by  the  immense  accession 
of  territory  to  the  United  States  by  the  cession  of  Louisiana.  ****** 
'' ]\ry  greatest  objection  to  this  tax  is,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  it  will  fall  ex- 
clusively upon  the  agriculture  of  the  State  of  which  1  am  one  of  the  Repre- 
sentatives. However  odious  it  may  be  to  some  gentlemen,  and  however  desir- 
ous they  may  be  of  discountenancing  it,  I  think  it  must  be  evident  that  this  tax 
will  not  effect  their  object ;  that  it  will  not  be  a  discouragement  to  the  trade, 
nor  will  the  introduction  of  a  single  African  into  the  country  be  prevented. 
The  only  result  will  be  that  it  will  produce  a  revenue  to  the  government. 
I  trust  that  no  gentleman  is  desirous  of  establishing. this  tax  with  a  view  to 
I'evenue.  The  State  of  South  Carolina  contributes  as  largely  to  the  revenue 
of  the  United  States,  for  its  population  and  wealth,  as  any  state  in  the 
Union.  To  impose  a  tax  falling  exclusively  on  her  agriculture  would  be 
the  height  of  injustice,  and  I  hope  that  the  Representatives  of  the  landed 
interest  of  the  nation  will  resist  every  measure,  however  general  in  its  ap- 
pearance, a  tendency  of  which  is  to  lay  a  partial  and  unequal  tax  upon 
agriculture." 

Mr.  Bedixger.  "  The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  has  so  fally 
expressed  the  oj)iiuons  I  entertain,  I  shall  say  but  little.  Everv  one  wno 
knows  my  opinions  on  slavery,  may  think  it  strange  that  I  shall  give  my 
vote  against  the  resolution.  There  is  no  member  on  this  floor  morelnimicai 
to  slavery  than  I  am,  yet  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  effect  of  the  present  reso- 
lution, if  adopted,  will  be  injurious.     I  shall,  therefore,  vote  against  it." 

"When  on  Friday,  February  17th,  the  third  day  of  the  debate,  the  House 
resumed  the  discussion  of  the  bill.  Mi-.  Lowndes  rose,  and  after  a  rapid  re- 
view of  the  subject,  moved  that  its  further  consideration  be  postponed  till 
the  following  December.  By  an  amendment,  tife  bill  was  set  down  for  the 
second  JMonday  in  March,  and  thus  the  same  end  was  accomplished,  as  the 
House  did  not  sit  on  that  day. 

Upon  the  issue  of  this  debate,  JNIr.  Benton*  remarks,  "To  prevent  an 
erroneous  impression  being  made  upon  the  public  by  the  above  proceedino-s, 
it  is  proper  to  remark,  that,  during  the  whole  discussion,  not  a  single  voice 
was  raised  in  defence  of  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  al- 
lowing the  importation  of  slaves,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  while  by  some 
of  the  speakers  its  immorality  and  impolicy  were  severely  censured,  by  all 
its  existence  was  deprecated.  A  huge  number  of  those  who  voted  for  the 
post])onement,  advocated  it  on  the  express  and  sole  gi-ound  that  it  would  give 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  au  opportunity,  wliich  they  believed 
would  be  embraced,  to  repeal  the  Act." 

*  Abridgment  of  Debate?,  iii  p.  1 12. 


22 

Just  three  years  later,  the  question  was  definitely  settled  by  Congress. 
On  the  loth  of  February,  1807,  the  House  passed  the  Senate  bill,  prohibit- 
ing the  importation  of  slaves  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  mem- 
bei's  in  favor  over  five  in  opposition, — and  this  slender,  indeed  nominal, 
minority  were  members  from  both  fi-ee  and  slave  states,  who  dissented  only 
upon  matters  of  detail,  so  that,  as  Mr.  Benton  observes,*  "  the  prohibition 
of  the  trade  may  be  deemed  unanimous." 

Mr.  Lowndes  jiassed  the  summer  at  the  North  and  in  the  neiohborhood 
of  Philadelphia.  He  did  not  reach  Washington  till  the  6th  of  November 
following,  after  the  second  session  of  Congress  had  commenced,  and  had  thus 
not  been  in  his  place  when  the  Committees  of  the  House  were  appointed  ; 
but,  a  fortnight  later,  on  the  announcement  of  the  resignation  of  Mr. 
Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  who  had 
been  appointed  by  the~  Legislature  of  New  York  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States,  it  was  Ordered,  "That  Mr.  Lowndes  be  appointed  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Commerce  and  Manufactures,"  &c.  &c.  He*  thus 
returned  to  his  old  place  on  the  Committee  to  which  he  had  been  first 
apjiointed  on  his  entry  to  the  House. 

He  spoke  for  the  last  time  in  Congress,  on  the  l.jth  of  December,  against 
a  bill  to  regulate  and  permit  the  clearance  of  private  armed  vessels.  His 
speech,  though  brief,  was  marked  by  the  same  quick,  ready  and  logical  rea- 
soning which  had  always  characterized  his  appearance  in  debate.  He  left 
Washington  on  the  (5th  of  March,  1805,  and,  failing  to  obtain  his  reelectio;gi 
to  Congress  on  the  general  overthrow  of  the  Federal  party  in  the  South, 
retired  to  private  life.  He  continued,  however,  a  steadfast  adherent  to  the 
principles  of  his  party,  and  earnestly  supported  John  Quincy  Adams,  when 
nominated  for  the  presidency  against  Andrew  Jackson.  He  often  remarked, 
in  allusion  to  the  brilliant  political  career  of  his  brother,  William  Lowndes, 
that  coming  as  a  Republican  later  into  public  life  than  himself,  his  brother 
differed  from  liim  in  no  essential  principle  of  his  political  faith. 

Mr.  Lowndes  never  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law.  He  devoted 
the  remainder  of  his  days  to  the  education  of  his  family,  and  care 
of  his  large  estates,  and  especially  the  cultivation  of  his  plantation  Oak- 
land, on  the  Combahee  river.  He  passed  a  portion  of  each  year  at  his 
residence  in  Charleston.  He  entertained  both  in  town  and  country,  with 
the  cordial  hospitality  characteristic  of  tlie  manners  of  the  period,  and  his 
conspicuous  social  station.  His  house  was  the  resort,  as  his  father's  had 
been  before  him,  of  distinguished  citizens  of  the  State.  An  occasional 
journey  to  the  Nortli,  where  two  of  his  children  had  married,  enabled 
him  to  continue  those  friendships  which  he  had  formed  when  in  the  public 
service. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married,  on  the  8Lh  of  March,  1798,  Sarah  Bond,  daughter 
of  Richard  Ion,  Escjuire,  of  Springfiiild,  St.  James,  Santee. 

By  this  lady,  who  united  great  charm  of  manner  to  a  handsome  and  dis- 
tinguished })resence,  and  whose  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart  has  been  ranked 
among  the  most  successful  of  all  his  pictures  of  women,  as  it  was  the  favor- 
ite of  the  artist  himself,  Mr.  Lowndes  had  : 

i.       Rawmns,"  1).  IMay  28,  I78'J  ;   d.  Octi>I)er,  1800. 

ii.      M.\Rv-loN,«  b.  AuiTust  1,  1800;   m.    JNlarcli   12,  1810,  to  Frederic  Kin- 
locli,  of  Churlestijn,  and  had  issue: 

*  AliiidLjinciit  of  DcliatcF,  iii.  p.  519. 


23 

i.     MARTnA-RuTLEDGE,"  b.  April  28,  1818  ;  m.  Matthew  Singleton, 
ii.   TiioMAS-LiAVNDES,*  b.  January  3,  18l'0  ;  d.  uniii, 
iii.  Ci.ELANu,'-'  b.  Uftuber  0,  1823;  d. ,  — . 

12.  iii.    Rawlins,*  b.  Suptemlier  1,  1801. 

13.  iv.     Tdomas,"  f).  June  26,  1803,  at  New-IIaven,  Conn. 

V.      jACoii-luN,«    b.  Sept.  19,  1804,  at  Pbiludelpbia;  d.  February  7,  1829, 
unni. 
It.  vi.     Wilma.m-Price,8  b.   Sept.  21,  1806. 

15.  vii.  Chakles-Tidvman,*  b.  June  28,  1808. 

viii.  £dwaro-Tiu}iimax.«  b.  January  15,  1810;  d.  July,  1837,  and  was  bu- 
ried HI  (jeoriiotown,  Soutb  Carolina. 

ix.    IlARurETT,"  b.  January  18, 1812  ;  m.   February  3,  1831,  the  Hon.  Wil- 
liam Aiken,  proprietor  of  Jehossee  Island,  (Jjvernor  of'Siuth  Caroli- 
na 1H14-16,  a  nieiiiber  ot  Congress  from  1851  to  1857,  and  has  : 
i.  lIiCNRiETTA,^  who  ui .  Burnett  Rhett,  Esq.,  and  has  issue. 

X.      CAUOMNK-llur.ER."  b.  Sept.  25,  1813;  d.  Sept.  8,  1817. 

16.  xi.    RicuARu-llKNRr,'*  b.  Maieli  4,  1815. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  in  Charleston,  on  the  8th  July,  1843.  lie  had  sur- 
vived ^lis  wife  less  than  three  years,  as  Mrs.  Lowndes  had  died  7th  October, 
18-40. 

10.  Jamks^  Lowndes,  m.  Catherine  Osborne,  and  by  lier  had  issue  : 

i.     Tu()MAS-Osborne,»  b.  1801 ;  m.  1824,  Elizabeth-Wragg,  dau.  of  William- 
Lough  ton  Sniitb. 

ii.  AuARiNTHiA,*  b.  1803  ;  m.  1834,  Lewis  Morris,  and  had  : 
i.    Ei.izABETu,^  died  unm. 
ii.  Lewis.' 

Mrs.  Morris  died  1843, 

iii.  James,''  i».  1806;  d.  uniu.  1838. 

17.  iv.  Edward-Rutledge,"  b.  1809. 

V.    Jclia,8  b.  1811 ;  m.  1830,  W.  Brisbane,  and  had: 

i.      Mary,^  m, Hickok. 

ii.     Julia.'  m.  R.  Rhett. 

iii.  Ruth,'  m.  Golden  Tracy. 

iv.    Catuerine-Osborne,'  ui.  Charles  Davis. 

V.     Amarinthia.' 

vi.    William.' 

vii.  James.' 

Mrs.  Brisbane  died  1847. 
vi.  WiLLTAM,^  b.  1817  ;  m.  1841,  Mary  Middleton,  and  had  issue  : 

i.   Hakriet-Kinlocii.' 

ii.  Marv-Amarintuia.' 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  18()5. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  1839. 

11.  William^  Lowndes,  as  he  is  usually  styled,  since  he  never  used 
his  second  baptismal  name,  was  taken  by  his  mother,  in  his  seventh  year,  to 
England,  and  placed  at  the  school  of  Mr.  John  Savage,  at  Brompton  Grove. 
The  tirst  glimpse  of  him  in  England,  is  obtained  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Savage 
to  INIr.  Rawlins  Lowndes,  at  Charleston,  written  in  the  montli  of  December, 
17'J().  The  son's  progress  was  spoken  of  in  cordial  approval,  and  as  equal 
to  his  father's  anticipations.  This  favorite  report  was,  unhappily,  soon  fol- 
loweil  by  one  of  a  dilferent  nature,  which  carried  the  news  of  a  singular 
aihl  most  unfortunate  occurrence  to  the  little  boy.  After  a  fatiguing  game 
with  his  playmates,  one  day  during  the  heavy  snows  of  the  winter  of  1791, 
h(!  sat  down  to  rest  by  a  drift  of  snow  and  soon  fell  fast  asleep.  lie  was  there 
left  unnotLi^ed  by  his  companions,  aud  was  not  thought  of  by  them  till  his 
unexplained  absence,  on  their  return  to  school,  caused  a  search  to  be  made 

4 


24 

for  him.  He  was  brought  back  alive,  yet  so  thoroughly  benumbed  with 
cold,  that,  despite  the  remedies  which  were  at  once  given  to  him,  he  only 
escaped  with  life  after  a  long  and  severe  attack  of  inflammatory  rheuma- 
tism. His  health,  on  convalescence,  was  found  to  be  so  seriously  affected, 
that  a  return  to  his  home  and  the  warm  climate  of  Carolina  was  pronounced 
necessaiy  by  the  physician  of  the  school.  Kor  was  this  opinion  ill  founded, 
for,  during  the  remainder  of  his  boyhood,  cut  oft'  from  its  sports,  he  struggled 
against  a  constitution  permanently  impaired. 

On  his  return  home,  he  was  sent  to  a  school  in  Charleston,  long  famoxis 
in  the  South, — the  joint  establishment  of  three .  divines — Dr.  Simon  Felix 
Gallagher,  a  Roman  Catholic,  Dr.  Beust,  a  Presbyterian,  and  Dr.  Purcell, 
an  Episcopalian.  Dr.  Gallagher  was  a  man  of  great  ability  and  learning, 
and  young  Lowndes  soon  showed  how  quick,  capacious,  and  retentive  was 
his  mind.  His  memory  was  such  that  he  could  repeat  long  passages  of 
poetry  after  a  single  reading.  His  progress  in  his  studies  was  most  rapid, 
and  seemed  to  his  schoolmates,  as  they  were  wont  to  say  in  after  life,  and 
in  waim  remembrance  of  him,  absolutely  marvellous.*  He  remained 
under  Dr.  Gallagher's  charge  more  than  five  years,  when  the  teacher  at 
length  said  of  his  pupil,  that  "  his  mind  had  drank  up  knoAvledge  as  the  dry 
earth  did  the  rain  from  heaven, — that  he  had  learned  all  that  his  teacher 
could  impart  to  him,  and  that  he  must  thenceforth  depend  on  his  own  guid- 
ance for  further  progiess."  The  pupil  was  but  fifteen.  He  joined  at  this 
time  a  youth's  debating  society,  and  was  soon  conspicuous  for  his  fluency 
and  readiness  in  debate.  It  was  remembered  of  him,  afterward,  that  all 
his  written  essays,  Avhile  at  school,  had  been  deemed  by  the  instructors  re- 
markable for  their  merit.  He  had,  too,  some  talent  for  versification,  and 
translated  the  Odes  of  Horace  into  English  verse. 

His  father  watched  with  pride  the  raj,)id  progress  of  this  child  of  his  old 
age.  Guided  by  him,  the  son  pursued  his  studies  from  an  early  period,  to 
fit  himself  for  a  political  career;  yet  his  peculiar  desire  for  information, 
based,  perhaps  insensibly,  upon  an  instinctive  confidence  in  his  own  large 
capacity  for  knowledge,  seems  to  have  led  him  into  wider  paths  of  learning 
than  were  usually  entered  by  those  who  aspired  to  political  distinction.  He 
had  studied  the  writings  of  La  Place  as  they  appeared,  and  had  attained 
sufficient  proficiency  in  Greek  to  correspond  years  afterwards  upon  the  prin- 
pi[)les  of  its  pronunciation.  He  continued  to  read,  under  the  influence  and 
suggestion  of  Dr.  Gallagher,  until  he  entered  the  law  office  of  De  Saussure, 
at  a  later  period  Chancellor  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Lowndes  was,  at  this  time,  conspicuous  in  society,  fond  of  gaiety,  and 
had  some  tastes  unusual  in  one  of  his  studious  mind.  He  was  fond  of  horses, 
and  eager  in  his  desire  to  improve  the  breed  in  Carolina.  He  had,  too,  a 
strong  infusion  of  military  zeal,  and,  a  few  years  later,  on  the  formation  of 
the  Washington  Light  Infantry  was  chosen  its  first  commander.f  He  was 
fairly  entitled  to  the  distinction;  he  was  head  and  shoulders  taller  than  his 
men.  At  the  time  of  his  marriage  to  Miss  Pinckney  in  1804,  he  Avas  hardly 
more  than  twenty  years  of  age.  As  soon  as  he  felt  able  to  practise,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Charleston  Par.  He  ai)])lied  to  Mr.  Cogdell,  then  City 
Attorney,  for  permission  to  enter  his  office  and  assist  him,  without  recom- 

*  Mr.  Fraser  to  Mr.  Ravciiel. 

t  This  company  still  exists,  and  enjoys  a  conspicuous  and  honorable  position  among  the 
widely  known  militia  orLcanizatioiis  of  "the  Union.  Its  vi^^it  to  Bo.-ton  at  the  celebration  of 
the  17th  of  June,  1875,  was  a  distinct  f'eatuvc  in  the  pueurrences  of  that  day. 


25 

jiense,  in  its  clutics.*  This  proposal  was  generously  refused  by  Mr.  Cogdell, 
who  offered  him  in  turn  a  partnership  on  equal  terms.  The  offer  was 
accepted,  and  in  IVIarch,  1804,  the  two  gentlemen  commenced  practice 
together  as  law  partners.  The  tirm,  however,  did  not  continue  long,  for  at 
the  end  of  the  following  Septeml^er,  a  severe  storm  raged  over  the  whole 
of  the  lower  country,  and  did  ranch  damage  to  the  plantations,  especially  to 
the  rice  harvest.  When  Mr.  Lowndes  learned  that  his  own  valuable  plan- 
tation had  been  well  nigh  ruined  by  the  rains  and  winds,  he  felt  obliged  to  go 
to  it  at  once  and  direct  in  person  the  slow  Avork  of  restoration.  In  taking 
leave  of  his  partner,  he  modestly  regretted  that  he  had  been  of  so  little 
service  to  him. 

As  he  had  never  intended  to  pursue  the  practice  of  law  as  his  profession 
in  life,  but  rather  to  acquire  the  power  to  use  it  as  a  means  to  an  end  in  the 
work  of  sound  lesfislation,  so  he  never  returned  to  it.  As  early  as  180G  he 
was  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  a  subject,  connected  with  international 
law,  whicli  bore  directly  upon  the  political  questions  of  the  day.  England  j 
was  then  at  war  with  France  and  her  tril^utary  states,  and  she  had  sought 
help  in  the  great  struggle  by  a  grave  violation  of  neutral  rights.  Her 
merchants,  who  had  seen  with  alarm  that  the  maritime  trade  of  Euro2)e 
was  bestowing  immense  profits  upon  the  commerce  of  America,  made  bitter 
and  indignant  complaint  to  Pitt.  He  speedily  determined  that  neutral  trade 
should  cease.  An  interdict,  by  the  issue  of  new  orders  in  council,  was  put 
upon  it,  and  American  vessels  with  their  cargoes  were  seized  and  confiscated. 
To  support  its  action,  the  British  ministry  called  at  this  time  into  its  service 
able  pamphleteers,  and,  among  their  productions,  there  was  one  of  great 
influence  and  power,  which  attained  a  wide  circulation,  entitled  "  War  in 
Disguise."  It  was  ascribed  at  first  by  some  to  Canning,  by  others  to  James 
Stephens,  a  lawyer  of  great  ability,  who  was,  in  fact,  its  author.  It  was  an 
ingenious  and  eloquent  attemjit  to  show  that  neutral  trade  was  in  effect  the 
niaintenance  of  war  against  England,  and  of  all  the  political  productions  of 
the  time  was  the  best  designed  and  fitted  to  make  quick  mischief  between  two 
countries  peopled  by  the  same  race.  The  claims  of  England  were  fViscussed 
by  iNIr.  Lowndes  in*  a  series  of  thirteen  papers,  which  ajipearcd  in  the 
Charleston  Courier  over  the  signature  of  '*A  Planter,"  in  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1806.  They  were  written  with  great  clearness  of  language  and 
force  of  reasoning;  considered  as  the  production  of  a  very  young  man, 
they  were  not  unworthy  of  the  author's  later  high  reputation.  They  indicated 
the  tendency  of  his  mind  to  political  discussion,  and,  in  a  larger  view,  the 
turn  of  thought  and  sentiment  which  was  nerving  the  South  to  overcome 
all  resistance  to  a  declaration  of  war  with  England.  These  papers  procui'ed 
for  their  writer  an  election  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  State  from  the 
Parish  of  St.  Bartholomews'  in  the  autumn  of   1806. 

Mr.  Lowndes  began  his  political  career  under  some  light  shadows  of 
annoyance  in  social  life,  for  he  supported,  with  a  few  other  young  men  of  his 
class,  the  Republican  Party  and  the  political  principles  of  Jett'erson.  The 
old  Federal  leaders  of  the  d.iy  were  the  recognized  heads  of  society,  and 
they  resented  the  defection  of  tlieir  juniors  as  a  revolt  from  sound  principles 
and  just  authority.  Ev^ery  social  iuHuence  was  brought  to  bear  upon  young 
men  of  such  striking  promise  as  William  Lowndes,  Langdon  Cheves  and 
Joseph  Allston,  and  compel  their  return  to  the  Federal  fold.     Deaf  to  the 

*  E.  S.  Thoni;is,  "  Reminiscences  of  sixt3'-rive  years,"  i.  p.  lOt. 


26 

persuasion  of  their  elders,  these  young  gentlemen  soon  fonricl  that  the 
principles  they  openly  avowed  caused  them  to  be  looked  upon  with  aversion 
and  distrust  by  the  Federal  authorities,  and  shut  them  out  from  much  of  the 
gaiety  of  town  and  country  life.  It  was  during  the  service  of  Mr.  Lowndes 
in  the  Legislature,  from  180G  to  1810,  that  the  change  was  made  in  the 
basis  of  representation  in  the  State,  which  lasted  down  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery. 

The  constitutions  of  1776  and  1778  had  apportioned  the  representation 
arbitrarily,  and  upon  the  basis  of  wealth  alone.  As  the  upper  country  increas- 
ed in  population,  a  change  became  necessary,  and,  in  1809,  the  Legislature 
passed  an  act,  providing  that  one  half  of  the  members  of  the  lower  house 
should  be  elected  on  the  basis  of  population,  and  the  other  half  on  the  basis 
of  wealth. 

The  history  of  all  measures  of  political  reform  has  shown  how  difficult 
it  is  to  take  the  first  steps,  and  how  easy  the  solution  of  the  riddle  afterwards 
appears  when  the  details  of  the  question  have  been  matured,  and  its  various 
issues  turned  into  one  comprehensive  measure.  It  then  becomes  a  matter 
of  some  interest  to  know  who  was  the  author  of  the  system  of  representation 
which  served  its  purpose  so  Avell  in  South  Carolina  for  more  than  fifty  years, 
and  secured  her,  by  the  ability  and  chai'acter  of  her  congressional  reputation, 
and  the  honest  and  dignified  administration  of  her  domestic  concerns,  so 
great  an  influence  among  her  sister  states.  The  authorship  of  the  amend- 
ment has  been  attributed  by  some  to  Col.  Blanding,  and  by  others  to  Mr. 
Lowndes.  Both  were  on  the  committee  who  reported  it,  but  the  original 
manuscrijjt,  interlined  and  corrected,  was  in  the  hand-writing  of  Mr.  Lowndes.* 

The  political  nominations  of  1810  were  canvassed  with  an  especial  refer- 
ence to  the  attitude  of  candidates  upon  the  all  important  question  of  the 
apprehended  war  with  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Lowndes's  views  were  already 
well  known  from  his  letters  to  the  Charleston  Courier  in  180G.  He  had  no 
confidence  in  the  shifts  and  expedients,  the  Embargo  and  Non-intercourse 
Acts  of  a  fornger  administration.  He  regarded  them  rather  as  the  illusory 
schemes  of  a  philosopher,  than  as  the  measures  of  a  clearsighted  statesman. 
The  commerce  they  were  created  to  defend,  they  tended  in  reality  to  destroy. 
The  encroachments  of  England  on  Neutral  Riiihts  had  continued  in  face  of 
such  enactments  to  increase,  and  had  culminated  at  last  on  the  attack  of  a 
British  man-of-war  on  an  American  frigate  in  our  own  waters,  in  the 
summer  of  1807. 

*  The  late  Mr.  Francis  J.  Grayson  made  tlie  question  of  the  authorship  of  this  amend- 
ment a  subject  of  careful  study,  and  wrote  ui)on  it  an  elaborate  note,  in  which  he  reviewed 
the  various  arguments  from  time  to  time  put  forth  in  Carolina  on  l)ehalf  of  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Lowndes  and  Col.  Blandinp.  His  conclusions  were  wholly  in  favor  of  the  claims  of  the 
former,  and  one  of  his  reasons  is  so  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  of  the 
measure  at  the  time  It  was  under  debate,  previous  to  its  passage,  as  to  deserve  {^reat  weight. 

Mr.  Grayson  was  of  opinion,  that  there  was  at  that  lime  a  desire  that  Col.  Blanding  should 
be  reg;irdcd  as  the  head  of  the  movement.  It  was  important  to  conciliate  the  upper  and 
iniddle  country.  It  conduced  "  to  this  end  that  tlic  measure  should  have  the  approbation  of  a 
judicious  member  Ironi  that  quarter.  Colonel  Blanding  was  the  man,  less  connected  than 
any  other  with  the  conflicting  parties  of  the  State  and  commanding  the  confidence  of  all. 
He  was  willing  to  lend  his  aid  to  the  proposed  change,  was  put  forward  for  that  end,  and 
gave  his  help  in  a  mode  that  necessarily  connected  his  name  with  it  before  the  ijcople." 

The  reason  here  given  is  one  that  in  its  very  Tiature  would  have  occasioned  great  reserve 
on  the  part  of  Mr  Lowndes  and  his  friends,  and  such  as  wouki  prevent  not  only  any  recog- 
nition of  his  connection  with  the  movement,  liut  would  even  lead  its  friends  to  obtain  the 
leadership  of  o7iC  who  represented  as  distinctively,  as  did  Col.  Blanding,  the  other  sections 
of  the  state.  Yet  it  was  due  to  Mr,  Lowndes  and  to  his  subsequent  distinguished  reputation 
that  the  evidence  of  his  claims  should  be  ])reserved,  and  the  declaration  of  Judge  Huger, 
his  colleague  in  the  Legislature,  who  spoke  from  jierf-oiial  knowledge,  and  declared  to  Mr. 
(Jrayson  that  Lowndes  ami  not  Blanding  was  the  author,  be  authoritatively  noted  as  it  fell 
from  his  lips. 


27 

Tlie  pride  of  the  American  people  had  been  then  touclied  to  the  quick. 
In  vain  liad  Mr.  Canninsr  offered  instant  and  ample  apologies, —  for  it  had 
been  every  where  felt  among  the  3onng,  the  bold,  and  the  aspiring,  that  the 
very  fact  that  such  an  occasion  for  apology  should  exist  was  in  itself  a 
disgrace.  It  was  in  this  condition  of  the  Southern  mnid  tliat  Mr.  Lowndes 
received  the  nomination  of  tlie  Kepublicans  of  the  Beaufort  and  Colleton 
District,  as  Representative  to  the  Twelfth  Congress.  lie  was  elected  in 
1810,  and  took  his  seat  in  obedience  to  the  executive  proclamation,  in  the 
early  assembly  of  the  House,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1811.  South  Caro- 
lina has  neither  before  nor  since  introduced  to  the  national  service  three  such 
able  men  as  William  Lowndes,  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  Langdon  Cheves, 
whom  she  sent  to  Washington  at  this  time — as  new  and  untried  members. 

It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  Mr.  Lowndes  to  rush  i^ito  the  arena  of  debate 
with  that  eager  haste  for  distinction,  so  often  seen,  since  it  is  so  natural  to 
men  of  an  acquired  local  reputation.  He  was  master  of  himself  and  felt 
he  could  bide  the  worthy  subject  and  the  proper  time.  He  had  been  named 
by  the  Speaker,  Mr.  Clay,  second  on  the  Committee  of  Commerce  and 
Manufactures,  a  position  which  at  once  gave  him  influence  in  those  days  in 
shaping  the  business  of  the  session.  He  was  earnest  and  diligent  in  the 
advancement  of  all  the  measures  of  preparation  for  war,  and  made  his  first 
speech,  4th  of  January,  1812,  in  the  support  of  the  bill  to  provide  an 
additional  military  force,  by  an  addition  to  the  army  of  twenty  thousand 
men,  and  he  immediately  followed  it  with  another  in  support  of  an  increase 
of  the  naval  establishment,  voting  on  this  question,  during  the  long  debate 
upon  it,  for  every  amendment  in  favor  of  an  heavy  increase  to  our  vessels  of 
war,  more  than  once  finding  himself  upon  the  record  in  company  with  the 
Federalists  under  the  lead  of  Josiah  Quincy,  rather  than  Avith  his  own  party. 

The  war  spirit  continued  to  increase  in  and  out  of  Congress,  despite  the 
opinions  of  the  older  and  more  cautious  politicians  who  were  averse  to  it, 
and  who  had,  in  their  opposition,  the  undivided  support  of  the  Executive 
and  the  Cabinet.  Madison,  indeed,  viewed  a  declaration  of  war  with  no 
favor,  and  only  gave  at  last  to  the  deputation  of  his  political  supporters 
who,  with  Clay  at  their  head,  Avaited  upon  him  in  a  body,  and  demanded  it 
as  the  necessary  condition  of  his  re-nomination  to  the  Presidency,  a  timid 
and  reluctant  assent. 

When  the  House  re-assembled  on  the  2nd  of  November,  1812,  Mr; 
Lowndes,  who  had  already  been  elected  to  the  ensuing  Congress,  was 
appointed  to  the  Committee  of  Military  Affairs,  on  which  he  served 
throughout  the  session  as  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  war.  He  received  in 
consequence,  on  the  assembling  of  the  Thirteenth  Congress,  13th  of  December, 
1813,  the  appointment  of  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs,  and  on 
the  4th  of  January  following,  having  reported  a  resolution  of  honors  to  the 
Navy,  made  in  support  of  it  a  speech,  brief,  yet  so  eloquent  and  stirring  that 
it  was  received  and  read  with  enthusiasm  in  every  part  of  the  country.  Nor 
can  this  kindling  address,  so  happily  conceived  and  so  forcil)ly  delivered,  be 
read  to-da}'  without  emotion.  It  deserves,  too,  an  especial  attention  from  the 
extensive  popularity  it  gave  to  its  author.    Mr.  Lowndes  spoke  as  follows: 

"  I  should  be  inexcusable  if  I  were  long  to  detain  the  committee  from 
the  vote — I  hope  the  unanimous  vote — which  they  are  prepared  to  give 
upon  the  resolutions.  The  victories  to  which  they  refer  are,  indeed,  of 
unequal  magnitude  and  importance  ;  but  the  least  inqwrtant  of  them,  if 
it   had  been  obtained    by  the  su])jects  of  any  government  on  the  continent 


28 

of  Europe,  would  have  heeu  heard  with  admiration  and  rewarded  with 
niuiiificeuce.  I  refer  to  the  action  between  the  Enterprise  and  the  lioxer, 
from  which  the  public  eye  appears  to  be  withdrawn  by  the  greater 
magnitude  and  the  confessedly  superior  splendor  of  a  more  recent  victory. 
*  *  *  Although  Lieut.  Burroughs  was  mortally  wounded  early  in  the 
action,  yet  the  skill  and  gallantry  with  which  he  commenced  it,  leave  no 
doubt  that  if  he  had  been  longer  spared  to  the  wishes  and  wants  of  his 
country,  the  same  brilliant  result  would  have  been  obtained  under  his  com- 
mand ;  while  the  ability  with  which  Lieut.  McCall  continued  and  complet- 
ed the  contest,  assures  to  Iiim  as  distinguished  a  fame  as  if  he  liad  carried 
the  vessel  into  action.  The  loss  of  a  commander,  indeed,  may  fairly  be 
considered  as  rendering  a  victory  more  honorable  to  a  successor,  because  it 
must  render  it  more  difficult :  it  may  be  expected  to  confuse,  though  it  may 
not  depress. 

"  Of  the  victory  of  Lake  Erie  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  speak  in  terms 
which  will  convey  any  adequate  conception  of  its  importance,  of  the  un- 
rivalled excellence  of  the  officers,  and  of  the  gratitude  of  the  country. 

'"  The  documents  referred  to  the  committee  sufficiently  prove  that  superi- 
ority of  force  on  the  jiart  of  the  enemy  which  would  have  insured  their  vic- 
tory, if  it  were  not  the  appropriate  character  of  military  genius  to  refute  the 
calculations  which  rely  on  the  superiority  of  force.  Nor  was  the  victory 
obtained  over  an  unskilful  and  pusillanimous  enemy.  The  English  officers 
were  brave  and  experienced,  and  the  slaughter  on  board  their  vessels  before 
they  were  surrendered,  sufficiently  attests  the  bravery  of  their  seamen. 
They  were  skilful  officers  subdued  by  the  ascendency  of  still  superior  skill. 

"  There  was  one  characteristic  of  this  action  which  seems  to  me  so  strongly 
to  distinguish  it,  that  I  cannot  forbear  to  ask  the  attention  of  the  commit- 
tee to  it  for  a  few  moments.  I  know  no  instance  in  naval  or  military 
history,  in  which  the  success  of  the  contest  appeared  so  obviously  to  resujt 
from  the  personal  act  of  the  commander  as  in  this.  When  the  crew  of  Capt. 
Perry's  vessel  lay  bleeding  around  liim ;  when  his  ship  was  a  defenceless 
hospital,  if  he  had  wanted— not  courage,  which  in  an  American  officer  forms 
no  distinction — but  if  he  had  wanted  that  fertility  of  resource  which  ex- 
tracts from  disaster  the  means  of  success  and  glory,  I  do  not  say,  if  he  had 
surrendered  his  ship,  but  if  he  had  obstinately  defended  her,  if  he  had  gone 
down  wrapped  in  his  Hag ;  if  he  had  pursued  any  other  conduct  than  that 
which  he  did  pursue,  his  associates  might  have  emulated  his  desperate 
courage,  but  they  must  have  shared  his  fate.     The  battle  was  lost. 

"  Now  examine  any  other  victory,  however  brilliant.  If,  in  the  battle  of 
the  Nile,  Lord  Nelson  had  fallen  even  by  the  first  fire,  does  any  man  believe 
that  it  would  have  affected  the  result  of  the  contest?  In  the  battle  of  Tra- 
falgar he  did  fall,  and  Victory  never  for  a  moment  fluttered  from  what  was 
then  her  chosen  eyrie — -the  British  mast.  And,  not  only  in  this  view 
was  the  victory  of  Capt.  Perry  unrivalled,  but  in  the  importance  even  of 
its  imm(!<liate  conse(]uences.  I  know  none  in  the  modern  history  of  naval 
warfare  that  can  be  compared  with  it.  An  important  territory  immediately 
rescued  from  the  grasp  of  English  power — 'uppermost  Canada  conquered, 
or  prepared  for  conquest ;  an  ocean  secured  from  the  intrusion  of  every 
foreign  flag  ;  a  frontier  of  a  thousand  miles  relieved  from  the  hostility  of 
the  most  dreadful  foe  that  civilized  man  has  ever  known !  Nay,  further, 
Capt.  Perry  and  his  gallant  associates  have  not  only  given  us  victory  in  one 
quarter,  but   shown    us  how   to  obtain   it   in   another  yet  more  important 


29 

How  deep  is  now  the  impression  on  every  mind  that  we  want  but  ships  to 
•five  our  fleet  on  the  Athmtic  the  success  which  luis  hitherto  attended  our 
sin<fle  vessels!  We  want  but  ships.  We  want  then  but  time.  Never  had  a 
nation,  when  first  obliged  to  engage  in  the  defence  of  naval  rights  by  naval 
means — never  had  such  a  nation  the  advantages  or  the  success  of  ours.  The 
naval  glory  of  other  States  has  risen  b}^  continued  effort — by  slow  gradation; 
that  of  the  United  States,  almost  without  a  dawn,  has  burst  upon  the  world 
in  all  the  sudden  splendor  of  a  tropical  day.  To  such  men  we  can  do  no 
honor.  All  lecords  of  the  present  time  must  be  lost, — history  must  be  a 
fal)le  or  a  blaid\, — or  their  fame  is  secure.  To  the  naval  character  of  the 
country  our  votes  can  do  no  honor,  but  we  may  secure  ourselves  from  the 
imputation  of  insensibility  to  its  merit — we  can  at  least  expi'ess  our  admira- 
tion and  our  gratitude." 

The  first  measure  of  importance  brought  up  at  this  session  had  been  the 
new  and  stringent  Elmbargo  Act.  It  became  a  law  on  the  17th  of  Decem- 
ber, and  provided  for  a  strict  embargo  until  the  1st  of  January,  1815,  un- 
less hostilities  ceased  meanwhile.  The  news  of  the  battle  of  Leipsic  and 
Napoleon's  retreat  across  the  l\hine,  which  was  made  known  just  before 
new-year's  day,  1814,  caused  an  immediate  agitation  in  favor  of  its  repeal  by 
all  who  were  in  favor  of  peace,  and  who  dreaded  the  advent  of  English 
armies  in  Canada,  when  released  from  service  in  Europe  by  the  fall  of 
Napoleon  then  thought  to  be  imminent.  Lord  Castlereagh  had  at  the  same 
time  written  to  Monroe,  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  express  the  willing- 
ness of  the  British  government  to  treat  for  peace.  Nor  was  it  long  before 
the  P^mbargo  Act  was  found  to  injure  the  country,  whose  commerce  it  para- 
lyzed, and  not  the  enemy,  who  had  accumulated  provisions  for  a  whole  year 
in  advance.  On  the  14th  of  April,  such  was  the  pressure  of  the  peace  party, 
acting  in  concert  with  leading  members  who  supported  Mr.  Lowndes  in  his 
opposition  to  any  restrictions  upon  commerce,  that  the  Act  was  repealed 
hardly  four  months  after  its  passage. 

The  bills  which  were  passed  under  Mr.  Lowndes's  influence  at  this  ses- 
sion were  laws — in  aid  of  the  naval  establishment  and  the  general  system  of 
national  defence  ;  to  authorize  an  increase  of  the  marine  corps,  and  the  con- 
struction of  floating  batteries  ;  to  allow  rank  to  be  bestowed  on  naval  offi- 
cers for  distinguished  conduct  ;  to  2)i'ovide  for  the  ai)pointment  of  flotilla 
officers,  for  bounties  for  prisoners  captured  on  the  high  seas  and  brought 
into  port,  and  for  pensions  for  the  widows  and  children  of  those  who  were 
slain  in  action. 

Although  the  treaty  between  England  and  the  United  States  had  been 
signed  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  the  despatches  of  our  Commissioners 
did  not  reach  America,  as  is  well  known,  till  the  11th  of  the  following 
February,  more  than  a  month  after  the  battle  of  New-Oileans.  As  fast  as 
the  news  of  peace  was  made  known,  the  sound  of  rejoicings  everywhere 
filled  the  air,  and  the  roads  leading  into  the  large  cities  were  alive  with 
people  hurrying  to  behold  illuminations  or  to  listen  to  the  congratulations 
of  party  leaders. 

The  war  had  never  been  popular,  for  the  sufferings  and  hardships  it  en- 
tailed had  caused  the  grievances  which  led  to  it  to  be  so  far  overlooked,  that 
there  were  very  few  to  grumble  at  their  relinquishment  by  President  Madi- 
son, in  the  final  instructions  to  the  American  Commissioners.  The  country, 
however,  soon  saw  and  clearly  understood  that  the  rtestablishment  of  peace 
in  Europe  had  removed  that  intense  strain  upon  the  resources  of  England 


30 

which  had  caused  its  government  to  wink  at  the  impressment  of  seamen 
fiom  vessels  belonging  to  the  United  (States  and  the  consequent  dishonor 
to  their  flag.  The  American  army  had  got  no  great  amount  of  glory  by 
the  war,  but  had  rather  given  promise  of  future  distinction  by.  its  gal- 
lantry at  Chippewa  and  its  steadiness  at  Lundy's  Lane.  The  navy  had 
carried  off  the  honors  of  the  struggle,  and  was  the  popular  arm  of  the  ser- 
vice. Congressmen  and  politicians  who  had  labored  for  it  and  supported  it 
acquired  an  undoubted  hold  upon  the  favor  of  the  people.  They  were  well 
nigh  the  only  class  of  public  men  who  did. 

Nor  was  England  less  willing  to  negotiate;  for  there  had  been  from  the 
outset  a  large  party  in  the  mother  country,  who,  like  the  Federalists  of  the 
North,  welcomed  the  treaty  as  "the  conclusion  of  a  destructive  war  which 
wisdom  and  temper  might  have  entirely  prevented."  * 

The  unwise  project  of  invasion  had  been  tried  upon  the  northern  and 
southern  border  of  the  Union,  and  had  failed  through  the  victory  of 
JNIcDonough  on  Lake  Champlain  and  Jackson  at  New-Orleans.  While  the 
defence  of  Cantida  and  her  supremacy  upon  the  ocean  wei'e  possible  to  Eng- 
land from  the  abundance  and  character  of  her  resources,  yet  so  distant  was 
the  scene  of  war,  that  she  could  only  maintain  hostilities  at  an  enormous 
expenditure.  Both  countries  desired  peace  so  equally,  that  when  peace  was 
made,  the  contemporary  historian  wrote  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  that 
"  not  the  least  notice  was  taken  of  any  of  the  points  at  issue  on  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war  and  which  were  the  occasion  of  it ;  so  that  the  con- 
tinuance of  peace  must  depend  either  upon  the  absence  of  those  circumstances 
which  produced  the  disputes,  or  upon  a  spirit  of  reciprocal  moderation  and 
conciliation,  the  desirable  fruit  of  dear-bought  experience."  t 

In  place  of  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  dispute,  a  wise  spirit  of 
conciliation  has  arisen  among  the  educated  statesmen  of  either  country,  which 
is  gradually  spreading  among  the  jieople  of  both  nations,  leading  to  a  study 
of  their  independent  as  well  as  their  long  common  histories,  and  removing 
many  of  the  misconceptions  which  had  naturally  sprung  into  existence,  like 
baneful  weeds  in  neglected  ground,  between  two  branches  of  the  same  race 
so  long  widely  separated,  and  whose  only  intercourse  had  been  on  little  other 
than  cold  or  hostile  terms. 

While  there  were  some  among  the  public  men  who  brought  about  the  war, 
who  suffered  in  popular  opinion,  it  was  the  good  fortune  of  Mr.  Lowndes, 
from  his  diligence  as  chairman  of  the  Naval  Committee  of  the  House,  and  his 
identification  thereby,  as  it  were,  with  the  navy  itself,  to  increase  his  repu- 
tation and  strengthen  the  favor  in  which  his  name  was  held. 

On  the  4th  of  December,  1815,  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means.  He  served  as  its  chairman  for  three  years, 
and  until  he  staid  away  from  Washington,  in  November,  1818,  in  order 
to  avoid  re-appointment,  not  taking  his  seat  until  the  second  week  of  the 
session. $ 

He  voted  for  the  reestablishment  of  the  United  States  Bank,  when  the 
measure  was  carried  by  the  Kepublican  adoption  of  the  Federal  argument 
that  it  was  a  necessary  financial  instrument  of  the  government.  Few  ques- 
tions have  produced  such  violent  controversy.  The  first  bank  had  only  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  Washington,  when  the  federal  party  was  prepared  to 

*  Anmiiil  Register,  vol.  57,  p.  123. 

t  IliitI,  p.  124. 

X  McHioiis  J.  Q.  Adams,  iv.  p.  174. 


31 

pass  it  over  his  veto.*  The  Republican  party  which  liarl  abolisherl  it  as  un- 
constitutional, were  subsefpiently  led  by  the  embarrassments  of  the  jiovern- 
ment  during  the  war,  the  disorder  of  the  currency,  and  the  dilHculty  of 
taxation,  to  reverse  their  opinions  and  to  regard  its  restoration  as  indis- 
pensable. At  a  later  period.  Mr.  Lowndes,  who  had  constantly  supported 
the  bank,  defended  its  refusal  to  redeem  the  notes  of  one  branch  at  any 
other, — wherever  the  holder  might  choose  to  present  them, — and  reviewed 
the  whole  subject  of  banking  and  exchange,  after  a  long  study  of  the  subject, 
in  a  speech  which  was  widely  reprinted  by  the  public  journals.  During  the 
whole  period  of  his  service  upon  the  AVays  and  Means,  he  was  most  diligent 
in  committee,  constant  in  attendance  iu  the  House,  and  a  participant  in  every 
important  debate. 

On  the  IGth  of  October,  18 IG,  he  was  invited  by  Madison  to  become  a 
member  of  his  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  but  declined  the  honor.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  again  oifered  by  President  JMonroe  the  AVar  portfolio, 
but  he  preferred  his  ])osition  as  the  leader  of  the  House,  and  it  was  given, 
on  his  second  declination  of  it,  to  Calhoun.  The  President's  letter  to  Mr. 
Lowndes  upon  this  sul)ject  has  been  preserved.  It  is  interesting,  since  it 
serves  to  clearly  indicate  the  considerations  which  formerly  governed  the 
selection  of  the  cabinet.     It  reads  : 

Confidential.  Washington,  May  31,  1817. 

Dkar  Sir: 

Having  manifested  my  desire  to  draw  into  the  administration,  citizens 
of  distinguished  merit  from  each  great  section  of  the  Union,  and  Gover- 
nour  Shelby  who  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War  from  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky having  declined  the  appointment,  I  consider  myself  at  liberty  to  look 
to  other  parts  for  aid,  from  those  best  qualified  to  afford  it.  On  you  my 
attention  has  in  consequence  been  fixed,  and  I  beg  you  to  be  assured  that 
your  acceptance  of  that  office  will  be  highly  gratifying  to  me  from  personal 
as  well  as  public  considerations.  As  I  am  about  to  leave  the  city  and  shall 
be  absent  some  time,  I  will  thank  you  to  be  so  good  as  to  transmit  your 
answer  to  me  under  cover  of  I\Ir.  Rush,  who  will  forward  it  to  me. 
I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  great  respect  and  esteem. 
Your  Obd't  Sv't, 

(signed)         James  Monroe. 

Mr.  Lowndes  also  refused  the  mission  to  France,  and  again,  a  year  later, 
the  choice  of  the  special  missions  to  Constantinople  and  St.  Petersburgh, 
which  President  Monroe,  after  consultation  with  John  Quincy  Adams,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  had  offi^red  to  him.f 

In  1818,  he  spoke  almost  every  week  of  the  session  upon  a  great  variety 
of  subjects,  and  never  failed  to  command  the  undivided  attention  of  the 
House.  On  the  30th  of  January,  1819,  he  reviewed  the  whole  subject  of 
the  Seminole  War,  and  the  course  pursued  by  General  Jackson  in  Florida, 
in  a  long  but  close  reasoned  speech,  taking  the  ground  that  if  Congress  were 
to  suppress  its  disap[)robation  of  the  occupation  of  St.  Marks  and  Pensacola, 
it  would  not  serve  to  raise  in  any  wa}'  the  the  military  character  of  General 
Jackson,  but  that  it  would  impair  its  own  character,  its  reputation  and  its 
dignity.     He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Coins  and  on  Weights  and 

*  Letter  of  James  Madison  to  William  Lowndes, 
t  Memoirs  of  J.  Q,  Adams,  vol.  v.  p.  77. 


o2 

Measures,  and  made  upon  these  subjects  luimerous  and  elaborate  notes, 
\Adiich  show  his  thorough  method  of  work  in  the  preparation  of  reports  to  the  ■ 
House.  He  liad,  however,  for  a  long  time,  over-tasked  liimself,  and  was 
obliged  to  leave  Washington  in  the  s|)i'ing  of  1819,  suffering  greatly  from 
exhaustion.  By  the  advice  of  his  physicians  he  sought  restoration  to  health 
in  the  entire  relaxation  of  a  sea  voyage,  and,  on  landing  at  Liverpool,  re- 
ceived the  thoughtful,  cordial,  and  generous  welcome  of  an  English  gentleman, 
from  the  historian  of  the  Medici,  Mr.  Roscoe.  Intent  upon  self-improvement 
and  knowledge,  he  remained  at  Liverpool  nntil  he  had  studied  and  re- 
corded in  his  note-book  everything  which  struck  his  curious  and  active 
mind.  He  found  in  the  docks,  the  system  of  labor,  the  workshops,  the  com- 
mercial regulations,  both  of  statute  and  local  enactment,  subjects  worthy  of 
careful  examination  and  study,  to  be  afterwards  made  available  in  the  com- 
mittee rooms  of  the  Capitol. 

He  met,  on  one  occasion,  at  Liverjiool,  a  gentleman  with  whom  he  had  a 
long  conversation,  and,  under  the  English  custom  of  intercourse  without  in- 
ti'oduction,  they  separated  without  receiving  it.  Mr.  Lowndes  had  so 
impressed  himself  upon  the  other,  that  the  latter  went  immediately  to  Mr. 
Roscoe  and  inquired  who  the  stranger  was,  describing  him  as  the  tallest 
man  he  had  ever  seen,  the  most  unassuming  he  had  ever  met,  and,  certainly, 
the  man  of  the  greatest  intellect  he  had  ever  heard  speak.  "  It  is  the  great 
American  Lowndes  you  have  been  talking  with ;  come  and  dine  with  me 
to-morrow,  and  I  will  introduce  you  to  him."  * 

The  journey  to  London  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  agricul- 
ture of  the  midland  counties.  He  visited  Newmarket,  went  through  the 
stables,  and  wrote  down  in  his  note-book  everything  he  could  learn  about  the 
care  and  improvement  of  horse-flesh,  which  he  thought  could  be  usefully 
adopted  on  his  own  side  of  the  Atlantic.  At  London,  he  took  every' oppor- 
tunity to  visit  the  House  of  Commons,  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  par- 
liamentary leaders,  and  watching  their  conduct  of  public  business.  On  his 
departure  from  London  he  went  directly  to  Paris,  and  there  dined  with 
Humboldt  at  Mr.  Gahatin's  table.  He  constantly  attended  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  listened  to  their  debates,  and  noted  in  his  diary  the  characteristics 
of  the  Chamber,  comparing  it  with  tlie  House  of  Commons.  He  thought  its 
parliamentary  rules  well  planned,  and  the  French  method  of  arresting  de- 
bate by  a  direct  vote  to  close  the  discussion  seemed  to  him  an  improvement 
upon  our  own  rule  of  the  previous  question.  He  travelled  through  Fi-ance 
and  Northern  Italy,  and  returned  to  London  afrer  a  tour  thi-ough  Holland 
and  Belgium.  Remaining  but  a  short  time  in  England  on  his  way  home,  he 
took  his  seat  on  the  8th  of  December,  two  days  after  the  assembly  of  the 
Sixteenth  Congress.  He  received  on  the  same  day  the  appointment  of  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  On  the  22d  of  February, 
1820,  he  introduced  a  resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted,  to  author- 
ize the  report  of  a  bill  to  confer  iqwn  the  fixmily  of  Commodore  Perry  the 
same  pension  that  they  would  have  been  entitled  to  I'eceive  had  Perry  fallen 
in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  instead  of  surviving  for  a  few  short  years  to  die 
of  yellow  fever  at  Port  Spain.  Mr.  Lowndes's  speech  on  this  occasion 
was  written  out  by  him  on  the  evening  after  its  delivery,  at  the  request  of 
his  friend  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  noticeable 
as  the  only  speech  of  the  long  series,  comprehending  every  question  of  the 

*  "Reminiscences  and  Skotclics,"  by  E.  S.  Thomas,  i.  p.  103.    The  author  gives  this 
anecdote  on  llic  autliority  of  Mr.  Roscoe  himtclf. 


33 

time,  wliioli  he  delivered  daring  his  congressional  career,  that  ever  received 
any  revision  at  his  hands.*  As  soon  as  the  question  upon  the  resolution  had 
been  put  after  he  resumed  his  seat,  John  Randolph  of  IJoanoke  arose,  to 
oft'er  another  resolution,  the  basis  of  the  subsequent  act,  which  providid  not 
only  i\n-  the  suppoi't  of  Perry's  family,  but  also  for  the  education  of  his 
children.  Ilis  remarks,  very  characteristic  of  the  man  and  strongly  put, 
were  prefaced  by  these  opening  words  of  compliment, — a  thing  rare  at  any 
time  from  him, — to  Mr.  Lowndes.  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  believe  it  will  prove  a 
very  dillicult  undertaking  for  any  member  of  this  House  to  keep  pace  with 
the  honorable  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  in  the  race  of  honor  and 
public  utility.  It  is  certainly  not  possible  for  me  to  do  so,  for  I  have  already 
l)een  anticipated  in  a  proposition  which  I  desired  to  make  to-day,  because  it 
is  one  eminently  iit  to  introduce  on  this  anniversary  so  inspiring  to  patriotic 
emotions." 

Mr.  Lowndes  sjioke  at  this  session  on  the  Missouri  Compromise,  against 
Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  on  the  Spanish  treaty,  and  in  opposition  to  the 
revision  of  the  Tariff.  When  Mr.  Clay  resigned  the  speakership,  at  the 
opening  of  tiie  second  session  in  November,  1820,  Mr.  Lowndes  became 
the  candidate  of  his  party  against  J\L-.  Johu  W.  Taylor,  of  New-York,  At 
the  close  of  the  ballot  on  the  second  day  of  the  session  he  lacked  but  one 
vote  of  an  election.  Fourteen  votes  had  been  diverted  by  the  candidacy 
of  Gen.  Smith,  of  Maryland,  "a  man  ruined  in  fortune  and  reputation,  yet 
wdio  commanded  votes  enough,"  as  John  Quincy  Adams  recorded  in  his 
diary  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  "  to  defeat  the  election  of  Lowndes,  a  man 
of  irreproachable  character,  amiable  disposition  and  popular  manners." 

Mr.  Taylor  was  chosen  Speaker  on  the  next  ballot,  and  on  the  23d 
of  November,  Mr.  Lowndes,  who  had  been  appointed  chairman  of  the 
select  c5mmittee  on  the  proposed  constitution  of  Missouri,  reported  a  bill  for 
Jier  admission  to  the  Union.  Its  consideration  was  set  down  for  the  Gt!i  of 
December,  and  the  whole  country  awaited  the  debate  with  a  deeper  interest 
than  it  had  given  to  any  subject  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution.  It 
was  the  first  great  encounter  on  the  question  of  slavery,  and  the  South,  more 
distinguished  then  in  the  superior  weight  and  character  of  her  delegations 
in  the  House,  than  at  any  other  period  of  her  long  supremacy — if  we  accept 
the  recorded  opinion  of  him,  then,  too,  illustrious  in  every  branch  of  the 
I)ublic  service,  yet  destined  to  attain  his  own  most  enviable  honors  years 
afterwards  in  that  House  as  the  worthiest  champion  of  the  North — the  South, 
grasping  the  situation  with  the  keenest  comprehension  of  its  magnitude,  en- 
trusted the  presentation  and  management  of  her  cause  to  Mr.  Lowndes,  the 
wisest  since  he  was  the  most  moderate  of  all  her  public  men. 

Of  his  speech,  in  opening  the  debate,  there  is  left  to  us  in  the 
annals  of  Congress  only  an  insufficient  abstract.  His  opening  sentences 
were  lost  to  the  official  reporters  of  the  House,  as  Mr.  Benton  tells  us  in  his 
note  upon  the  speech,  by  the  movement  of  representatives  from  every  part 
of  the  chambei-,  as  they  hurriedly  changed  their  seats  to  get  near  the 
S[)eaker,  and  catch  every  word  that  fell  from  his  li|)s,  "•  Mr.  Lowndes  being 
one  of  those  so  rare  in  every  assembly  around  whom  members  clustere<l 
when  he  rose  to  S|)eak,  that  not  a  word  should  be  lost  where  every  word  was 
luminous  with  intelligence  and  captivating  with  candor.  This  clustering 
around  him,  always  the  case  with  Mr.  Lowndes  when  he  rose  to  speak,  was 

*  Abridgment  of  Debates,  vol.  vii.  p.  34G. 


34 

more  than  usually  eager  on  this  occasion  from  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  spoke ; — the  Union  yerging  to  dissolution,  and  his  own  condition 
verging  to  the  grave."  * 

The  debate  lasted  through  the  winter,  and  it  was  not  till  the  28th  of 
February,  1821,  that  the  State  of  Missouri  was  conditionally  admitted  to 
the  Union,  and  the  second  Missouri  question  compromised  like  the  first.f 

During  the  greater  portion  of  the  winter  Mr.  Lowndes  was  confined  to 
his  residence  by  severe  illness,  the  premonition  of  the  end  to  come  two  years 
later.  The  management  of  the  Missouri  question,  owing  to  his  inability  to 
attend  the  House,  was  entrusted  by  him  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  frequently  con- 
ferred with  him  in  his  chamber  in  regard  to  it.  The  compromise  became 
thus  the  work,  as  it  was  the  fortunate  opportunity  of  Henry  Clay.  He 
availed  himself  of  the  weakness  of  the  Northern  position  to  undermine  it, 
and  dissension  was,  for  a  few  years,  alhiyed.  Mr.  Lowndes  spoke  but  rarely 
after  his  recovery,  once  or  twice  when  able  to  attend  the  House  on  some 
point  in  the  Missouri  debate,  and  once  in  favor  of  an  inquiry  into  the  Bank- 
rupt Laws.  He  was  under  medical  observation  during  the  summer  of  1821, 
and  rallied  somewhat  before  he  returned  to  AVashington,  which  was  not 
until  the  21st  of  December,  nearly  three  weeks  after  the  opening  of  the 
Seventeenth  Congress,  having  once  more  kept  away  at  the  organization  of 
the  House  to  avoid  the  chairmanship  of  a  committee.  In  the  last  week  of 
December,  at  a  caucus  of  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  he  received  its 
nomination  for  the  Presidency.  This  movement  of  his  native  state  was  an 
entire  surprise  to  him.  His  answer,  which  passed  into  a  proverb,  and  was 
destined  to  be  the  speech  by  which  he  will  be  longest  remembered,  is  best 
given  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written  at  Washington,  6th  January,  1822. 
"You  have  heard  of  the  caucus  nomination  at  Columbia.  I  hope  you  have 
not  set  your  mind  too  strongly  on  being  President's  lady.  While  you 
wish  only  a  larger  fence  for  the  jioultry  yard,  and  a  pond  for  the  ducks,  I 
may  be  able  to  gratify  you,  but  this  business  of  making  a  President  either 
of  oneself  or  of  another  I  have  no  cunning  at.  We  live  in  a  terrible  con- 
fusion. I  thought  when  I  came  here  the  question  was  a  fact  confined  to  two 
persons,  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Adams.  Now,  we  have  all  the  secretaries 
and  at  least  two  who  are  not  to  be  named.  As  to  the  answer  which  I  have 
made  to  the  notification,  here  it  is  :  'I  have  taken  no  step  and  never  shall  to 
draw  the  public  attention  iipon  me  as  a  competitor  for  the  Presidency.  It 
is  not  in  my  opinion  an  office  to  be  either  solicited  or  declined.'" 

Mr.  Lowndes  served  at  this  session  on  the  Committee  on  the  i\Iint  and  the 
Coinage,  and  S2)oke  for  the  last  time  in  Congress  on  the  22d  of  March,  1822, 
on  a  resolution  authorizing  an  exchange  of  government  bonds. 

He  continued  to  decline  in  vigor,  under  the  debilitating  infiuence  of  disease 
and  the  method  of  treatment  adopted  in  his  case.  The  strength  of  the 
overworked  statesman  at  length  gave  way  entirely.  He  resigned  in  the 
autumn  his  seat  in  Congress,  and  sailed  in  October  in  the  ship  Moss,  from 
Phila(leli)hia.  Accompanied  by  his  wife  and  daughter,  he  hoped  to  find,  in 
a  longer  absences  from  home,  and  in  the  choice  of  climate  which  Eurojio 
ait'orded,  restoration  of  health.  It  was  not  thus  to  be.  He  grew  rapidly 
worse,  and  died  on  the  27th  of  October,  when  he  had  been  but  nine  days  at 
sea.    The  news  of  his  death,  which  occasioned  universal  concern  and  sorrow, 

*  Aliiiiljrmpnf  of  Ddiafcs,  vol   vii.  ]i.  T?. 
t  MLinoirs  of  J.  Q.  Adiims,  vol.  v.  p.  307. 


35 

(lid  not  reach  tlie  Ignited  States  till  the  11th  of  Jaiinaiy,  1823.  Ten  days 
later,  on  the  21.st  of  the  nioiith,  the  House  of  liepreseiitatives,  of  which,  at 
his  (]<-ath,  he  was  not  a  nieniher,  and  in  wiiich  James  Hamilton,  Jr.  already 
sat  as  liis  successor,  passed  the  ?ame  i-esolntions  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
and  of  mourniiii;  for  his  loss,  which  they  would  have  done  had  he  fallen 
like  the  second  Adams  upon  its  Hoor.  The  eulogies  upon  him  of  Hamilton, 
and  Archer,  and  Taylor  are  among  the  most  heautiful  of  such  efforts. 
Hamilton  declared  that  his  wisdom  was  equalled  only  hy  his  moderation, 
that  he  had  less  self-love  and  more  self-denial  than  any  other  man  lie  had 
known.  Archer  descrihed  his  character  as  one  in  which  the  qualities  that 
win  esteem  were  hlended  in  the  happiest  way  with  those  that  command  it. 
Taylor,  of  New- York,  atlirmed  that  the  hii^hest  and  best  hopes  of  the 
country  had  looked  to  William  Lowndes  for  their  fulfilment,  that  the  Chief 
Magistracy  would  have  been  illustrated  hy  his  virtues  and  talents.  "  During 
nine  years,"  said  Mr.  Taylor,  "  I  have  served  with  him  on  many  important 
committees,  and  he  never  failed  to  shed  new  light  on  all  the  subjects  to 
which  he  apjilied  his  vigorous  and  discriminating  mind.  To  manners  the 
most  unassuming,  to  patriotism  the  most  disinterested,  to  morals  the  most 
])ure,  to  attainments  of  the  highest  order  in  literature  and  science,  he  added 
the  virtues  of  decision  and  i)rudence  so  happily  combined,  so  harmoniously 
united,  that  we  knew  not  which  most  to  admire,  the  firmness  with  which 
he  pursued  his  purpose,  or  the  gentleness  by  which  he  disarmed  opposition. 
You,  Mr.  Speaker,"  he  concluded,  "  will  remember  his  zeal  in  sustaining 
the  cause  of  our  country  in  the  darkest  days  of  our  late  war.  You  cannot 
have  forgotten — who  that  heard  him  can  ever  forget  the  impression  of  liis 
eloquence  in  announcing  the  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the  gallant  Perry  for 
the  victory  on  Lake  Erie?  Alas!  Alas!  the  statesman  has  joined  the 
hero, — never — never  again  shall  his  voice  be  heard  in  this  Hall." 

Said  the  National  Litelligencer  of  the  following  day:  "  The  tribute,  which 
was  yesterday  paid  to  the  memory  of  the  lamented  William  Lowndes,  is  as 
lionorable  to  the  feeling  of  the  House  as  it  is  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased. 
The  brief  addi-esses,  delivered  on  the  occasion,  were  such  as  worthilv  became 
the  speakers,  and  never  perhaps  was  eulogy  more  justly  or  more  disinter- 
estedly bestowed." 

For  the  period  of  one  month,  in  accordance  with  their  resolution,  the 
House  wore,  as  a  badge  of  mourning,  crape  upon  the  left  arm.  This  action, 
which  had  been  without  precedent  in  the  annals  of  the  House,  has  served  as 
its  example  since  that  time,  on  the  few  occasions  that  the  House  has  been 
called  upon  to  pay  especial  honor  to  the  memory  of  a  great  citizen  who  was 
not  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  member  of  their  oumi  body. 

Not  less  dee])  and  earnest  than  the  tributes  of  the  House  were  the  later 
words  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Wilde,  subsequently  Professor  of  the  LTniversity  of 
Louisiana,  in  his  "  Sketches  of  Members  of  the  Fourteenth  Congress." 

"  Prte.ninent,  yet  not  more  proudly  than  humbly  j)ree!ninent  among 
them  was  a  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  now  no  more  :  the  purest,  the 
calmest,  the  most  philosophical  of  our  country's  modern  statesmen,  one  no 
less  remarkable  for  gentleness  of  manners  and  kindness  of  heart  than  for 
that  passionless  unclouded  intellect  which  rendered  him  deservin*;.  if  ever 
man  deserved  it,  of  merely  standing  by  and  letting  reason  argue  for  him. 
The  true  patriot,  inca|)able  of  all  self-ambition,  who  shunned  office  and 
distinction,  yet  served  his  country  faithfully  because  he  loved  her, — he,  I 
mean,  who  consecrated  by  his  example  the  noble  precept  so  entirely  liis  own, 


3G 

that  the  first  station  in  the  Republic  was  neither  to  be  sought  after  nor 
declined,  a  sentiment  so  just  and  so  happily  expressed  that  it  continues  to 
be  repeated  because  it  cannot  be  improved." 

Nor  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  graver  historian  less  warm.  Benton, 
who  said  of  Mr.  Lowndes,  that  his  opinion  had  a  weight  never  exceeded  by 
that  of  any  other  American  statesman,  who  wrote  at  a  period  when  almost 
all  who  had  ever  served  with  him  in  Congress  had  passed  away,  and  whose 
)iersonal  acquaintance  with  him  had  been  but  sliglit,  since  he  commenced 
his  own  long  career  at  the  time  that  declining  health  had  led  to  Mr. 
Lowndes's  resignation,  devotes  to  his  character  and  influence  one  of  the 
opening  chapters  of  his  work. 

"All  that  I  saw  of  him  confirmed  the  impression  of  the  exalted  character 
which  the  public  voice  had  ascribed  to  him.  Virtue,  modesty,  benevolence, 
])atriotism,  were  the  qualities  of  his  heart;  a  sound  judgment,  a  mild, 
persuasive  elocution  were  the  attributes  of  his  mind ;  his  manners  gentle, 
natural,  cordial,  and  inexpressibly  engaging.  He  was  one  of  the  galaxy, 
as  it  was  well  called,  of  the  brilliant  young  men  whom  South  Carolina  sent 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1812, — 
Calhoun,  Cheves,  Lowndes, — and  was  soon  the  brightest  star  in  that 
constellation.  *  *  *  He  was  the  moderator  as  well  as  the  leader  of  the 
House,  and  was  followed  by  its  sentiment  in  all  cases  in  which  inexorable 
party  ieeling  or  some  poweiful  interest  did  not  rule  the  action  of  the  mem- 
bers, and  even  then  he  was  courteously  and  deferentially  treated.  It  was  so 
the  only  time  I  ever  heard  him  speak, — session  of  1<S20-21,  and  on  the 
inflammable  subject  of  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri.  His  death 
was  a  j)ublic  and  national  calamity."* 

When  Mr.  Clay  was  asked,  towards  the  close  of  his  long  life,  by  Colonel 
John  Lee,  of  Maryland,  who,  of  all  the  public  men  he  had  known,  was  in 
his  opinion  the  greatest,  he  replied  that  it  was  difiicult  to  decide  among  the 
many  whom  he  had  been  associated  with,  but,  said  he,  "  1  think  the  wisest 
man  I  ever  knew  was  William  Lowndes." 

Ex-President  Van  Buren,  towards  the  end  of  that  work  which  occupied 
his  later  years,  and  which  he  did  not  live  to  see  published,!  in  speaking  of 
the  protective  system,  which  had  its  origin  in  the  prolific  mind  of  Hamilton, 
says :  "  The  enforcement  of  Hamdton's  recommendations  was  reserved  for 
the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  a  period  of  which  I  have  already  spoken  as 
one  which  brought  on  the  political  stage  a  new  class  of  Presidential  aspirants, 
members  of  a  succeeding  generation  and  unknown  to  Revolutionary  fame. 
Among  the  most  prominent  of  these  stood  Crawford,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Adams, 
Webster  and  Lowndes, — the  latter,  perhaps,  the  most  likely  to  have  suc- 
ceeded, if  his  useful  life  had  not  been  brought  to  a  pi'emature  close." 

Such  are  some  of  the  opinions  given  of  this  most  highly  gifted  man.  He  was 
a  descendant,  let  it  be  here  said,  of  the  same  family  as  was  his  distinguished 
namesake,  William  Lowndes,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  Queen  Anne. 
This  statesman,  the  author  of  the  British  funding  system,  rose  to  influence 
of  the  first  rank  by  service  upon  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  By  a  curious  and  striking  coincidence,  a  century 
later,  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  as  chau'man  of  a  similar  committee  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  earned  the  same  designation  in  the  annals  of  the 

*  Benton.     "  Tliirty  ycnvs  Viow,"  vol.  i.  pi>.  9,  10,  lo. 
t  •'  Pulitical  Parties  in  tim  United  States,"  pp.  1L5-16. 


37 

United  States  tliat  the  otlier  liiul  won  as  tlie  "  Ways  and  INIoans  Lowndes  " 
of  the  Parliamentary  History  of  Eni);]and,  and  thus,  h)ng  auo,  tliere  sprang 
from  the  ohl  manor  honse  of  Legh  Hall  in  Chesliire.  offshoots  of  that 
family,  wliich  had  been  even  then  long  associated  with  its  walls,  that  were 
destined  to  carry  in  after  time  their  common  name  high  into  the  councils 
of  each  of  the  great  families  of  the  English  race. 

To  the  student  of  the  constitutional  history  of  the  United  States,  the  life 
and  character  of  William  Lowndes,  although  it  may  be  utterly  forgotten 
among  the  people,  will  always  have  a  ])eculiar  interest  from  the  numerous 
possibilities  which  associate  themselves  with  it  and  which  were  extinguished 
at  his  death.  He  was  called  "  an  old  statesman  "  by  tlie  press,  and  yet  lie 
was  but  forty  when  he  died.  He  had  never  served  the  country  but  as  a 
member  of  the  lower  House  of  Congress,  rejecting  in  turn  the  summons  of 
Madison  and  Monroe  to  their  cabinets,  and  the  offers  of  three  foreign  mis- 
sions, yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Union  has  never,  in  this  the  first  century 
of  its  independence,  lost  another  statesman  of  his  age  who  made  so  deep  an 
impression  upon  its  affection  and  judgment,  and  who  left  so  enviable  a  fame. 
His  last  public  act,  as  it  might  be  called,  such  is  the  temper  of  the  Republic 
towards  all  who  have  incurred  her  suspicion  of  unduly  striving  for  the  Pre- 
sidency, and  in  such  sharp  contrast  was  his  attitude  to  that  assumed  by  his 
three  great  contemporaries,  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun, — the  dignified 
position  he  took  in  reference  to  his  nomination, — won  for  him  a  feeling  of 
])ersonal  admiration,  even  from  his  opponents,  which  was  expressed  long 
afterwards  in  conversation  and  private  correspondence  whenever  his  char- 
acter and  attainments  were  the  subject  of  affectionate  and  interesting 
reminiscence. 

The  j)ersonal  appearance  of  Mr.  Lowndes  was  remarkable  ;  for  his  stature 
exceeded  six  feet  and  six  inches,  and  he  was  as  slender  as  he  was  tall. 
Though  loose  limbed  he  managed  his  length  easily.  His  features  were 
large,  while  the  face  was  thin,  long  and  pale.  Lie  was  habitually  grave  and 
thoughtful,  and  never  relaxed  into  idle  conversation  or  even  social  raillei'v, 
yet — comitate  condita  gravitas — he  was  neither  solemn  nor  severe,  mnl  his 
smile,  though  rare,  was  said  to  be  inexpressibly  engaging.  His  ha/)itnal 
seriousness  was  relieved  by  the  presence  of  his  children,  and  he  was  always 
cheerful  when  they  were  with  him  or  came  to  be  tossed  in  his  long  arms. 
Present  or  absent,  says  Mr.  Grayson,  they  were  objects  of  tender  solicitude. 
He  found  time  to  correspond  with  them  even  during  the  labors  attendant 
upon  a  session  of  Congress,  and  watched  tlieir  progress  as  evidenced  by 
their  letters.  He  urged  them  to  be  diligent  by  appeals  to  their  filial  affec- 
tion rather  than  to  their  desire  of  emulation.  His  manners  and  address 
were  full  of  dignity,  and  he  was  as  invariably  courteous  in  private  life  as  he 
was  in  his  public  career.  How  distinctively  he  may  be  said  to  have  earned 
his  public  reputation  for  these  qualities  we  have  already  seen,  yet  it  is  well 
to  notice  the  valuable  opinion  of  the  distinguished  historian  of  the  Aboli- 
tion Party,  the  late  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  who  speaks  of  Mr. 
Lowndes  "  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  courteous  and 
moderate  Southern  statesmen."* 

Wliile  sought  in  society  by  its  most  conspicuous  members,  and  honored 
by  the  friendship  of  his  elders  in  years  and  station,  he  w'as  always  a  peculiar 
favorite  of  men  and  women  younger  than  himself.  He  had  from  natural 
modesty  rather  than  from  cultivation  that  faculty  of  deferent   attention  to 

*  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  tlic  Slave  rower,"  by  Henry  Wilson,  i.  p.  15S. 


38 

others  wliicli  wins  in  social  intercourse  at  once  confidence  and  regard.  The 
late  Mr.  John  Rtivenel  sometimes  told  th.e  following  anecdote  in  illustration 
of  the  attachment  JNIr.  Lowndes  inspired  among  young  people  : — Mr. 
Ravenel  was  the  pupil  of  a  Major  Wilson,  a  surveyor,  and  had  been  sent 
by  him  into  the  neighborhood  of  Ell  Dorado,  the  estate  of  General  Thomas 
Pinckney.  He  was  at  once  asked  by  the  General  to  his  house.  A  youth  and 
a  stranger,  he  felt  and  perhaps  betrayed  something  of  natural  embarrass- 
ment incidental  to  his  position  in  the  company  at  Genei-al  Pinckney's  table, 
when  a  tall  gentleman,  who  was  entirely  unknown  to  him,  engaged  his  at- 
tention, and  delighted  him  by  the  charm  of  his  manner,  and  by  his  agreeable 
conversation.  He  soon  learned  that  the  tall  gentleman  was  his  host's  son-in- 
law,  and  the  leader  of  the  congressional  delegation  of  his  State.*  As  he 
was  considerate  and  attentive  to  others,  he  was  modest  in  his  own  share  of 
conversation  ;  and,  while  insensibly  guiding  it,  never  took  the  exclusive  con- 
trol which  would  so  often  have  been  willingly  accorded  him.  Conversation  in 
his  presence  never  became  monologue.  He  was  in  no  sense  disputatious, 
and  talked  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  not  for  victory.  Whether  in  the  dravv- 
inuj-i-oom,  in  committee,  or  in  the  House,  he  never  became  heated  nor  vehe- 
ment, but  turned  an  angry  disputant  by  calm  remark  and  gentle  manner. 

When  once  asked  by  a  gentleman  long  noted  for  colloquial  skill,  what  but 
failure  would  be  the  fate  of  the  American  Republic;  what  would  be  the 
condition  of  things  when  there  came  to  be  more  than  thirty  states;  how 
could  faction  be  controlled,  where  could  safeguards  be  found  in  a  democracy 
to  protect  the  liberties  of  tlie  people,  Mr.  Lowndes,  to  whom  it  would  have 
been  easy  as  one  hopeful  of  the  Union  to  reply  in  "glittering  generalities," 
quietly  observed,  "  That  the  people  of  that  future  time  would  be  so  much 
better  informed  than  he  could  be  of  the  evils  ai:)proaching  and  their  reme- 
dies, that  he  was, entirely  content  to  leave  the  whole  subject  for  them  to 
examine  and  arrange." 

AV^ithout  despising  popular  opinion,  he  placed  no  great  value  either  on 
its  praise  or  its  censure,  and  was  entirely  undistnrl)ed  by  the  occasional 
attacks  of  party  journals.  It  was  Mr.  Rut.ledge  who  related  of  him  the 
story  that  once,  while  on  a  journey  with  Mr.  Lowndes  through  Pennsyl- 
vania, they  stopped  a  short  time  at  a  village,  and  that  a  stranger  to  them 
in  tlie  hotel,  who  seemed  to  be  a  prominent  character  in  the  town,  after 
listening  to  their  conversation,  came  up  to  Mr.  Lowndes  and  asked  him  as 
a  favor  to  run  his  eye  over  a  communication  he  had  prepared  for  the  coun- 
try newspaper  and  give  him  the  benefit  of  his  corrections.  Mr.  Lowndes, 
on  reading  the  article,  found  it  to  be  an  attack  upon  the  administration  and 
its  leading  supporters,  and  especially  virulent  upon  himself.  He  corrected 
and  returned  tlie  paper  without  intimating  who  he  was,  and  then  asked  the 
writer  what  reason  he  had  for  abusing  Mr.  Lowndes.  "None  at  all,"  was 
the  reply,  "but  I  don't  believe  any  man  ever  possessed  so  many  good  qua- 
lities as  are  imputed  to  him  by  all  parties."!  From  this  slight  incident  we 
may  infer  his  estimate  of  po])ular  censure  and  applause. 

Ilis  oi'atory  was  easy,  unaffected,  and  refined  in  manner.  It  made  a  deep 
impression  u[)on  his  audience  by  its  contrast  with  the  more  florid  style  of 
the  period  in  which  he  lived.  In  the  State  House  at  Columbia  he  was 
always  heard  with  profound  attention.  His  manner  was  calm  and  persua- 
sive, his  action  subdued,  his  style  clear  and  flowing,  his  voice  good  but  not 
strong.     He   made   no   questionable   rhetorical  flights,   but   seemed  to   the 

*  Mr.  F.  J.  Grayson.  t  Ibid. 


39 

listener  to  be  aiiimnted  solely  with  tlie  desire  to  ascertain  and  enforce  the 
truth.  He  was  remarkable  in  debate  for  a  candor  tliat  never  failed  to  see 
and  acknowledge  the  strength  of  an  opponent's  argument.  He  would  freely 
admit  what  an  inferior  mind  would  have  striven  only  to  elude,  and  would 
always  concede  all  that  his  adversary's  argument  could  demand.  His  prac- 
tice in  debate  was  to  state  at  the  outset,  fully  and  clearly,  the  strong  points 
of  the  speech  to  which  he  had  risen  to  reply.  Mr.  Alfred  Huger  related 
that,  on  some  occasions,  Mr.  Lowndes  would  put  his  adversary's  argument 
with  such  force  that  his  own  friends  would  become  alarmed  lest  he  might 
fail  to  pull  down  what  he  had  so  firmly  erected.  The  fear  was  needless, 
even  on  the  occasion  wlien  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  who  was  opposed 
to  him,  had  declared  aloud  on  the  fioor  of  the  House,  as  Mr.  Lowndes  went 
on,  that  the  speaker  had  entrapped  himself  and  would  never  answer  his 
own  argument.  Mr.  Randolph,  however,  at  the  end  of  the  speech,  admitted 
that  he  had  been  mistaken. 

Fortunate  as  Mr.  Lowndes  was  in  his  public  career,  he  was  not  the  less 
happy  in  his  private  relations.  No  censure  ever  assailed  his  domestic  life, 
for  he  was  known  of  all  men  to  be  pure. 

Mr.   Lowndes  married,  ,  LS02,   Elizabeth-Brenton,  daughter  of 

General  Thomas  Pinckuey.*  By  this  lady,  who  died  in  July,  1857,  Mr. 
Lowndes  had  : 

i.      Rawlins,^  b.  1804 ;  ra.  ,  1827,  Emma-Raymond  Hornby,  and 

died  s.  p. ,  1834. 

18.  ii.     Thomas-Pinckney,8  b.  Oct.  — ,  1808. 

iii.    Rebecca -MoTTE, 8  b.  ,  1810;  m.  June  16,  1829,  to  Edward-L. 

Rutledge,  of  the  Navy,  and  has  issue  : 

i.      Harriott-Horry,*  m. ,  1851,  St.  Jalien-Ravenel,  and 

has  issue : 
i.      Harriott- Rut?cdc/e,^°  b.  1852. 
ii.      Anna~EUza,^°  b.  1853. 
iii.    John,'°h.  1856. 
iv.     Elizabeth- Rutledge,'"^  b.  1857. 
v.      Edward- Rvtledge,^"  b.  1859. 
vi.     St.-Julien,^'>  b.  1861. 
vii.    Frances- Gua/dn,^"  b.   1865. 
viii.  Francis- Guafdo,^°h.  1869. 
ix.     Helen- Lowndes, ^'^  b.   1872. 
ii.     Elizabeth-Pinckney,*  b.  1842  ;  died  in  infancy. 

12.  Rawlins^  Lowndes,  now  the  senior  representative  of  the  family 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  educated  at  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  which  he  entered  August  31,  1816.  He 
was  graduated  1st  July,  1820,  and  promoted  in  the  Army  to  the  rank  of  2d 
Lieutenant,  Corps  of  Cavalry.  He  was  stationed  at  Fort  Moultrie  in  the 
winter  of  1820,  and  was  on  topographical  duty  in  1821,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Missouri,  at  that  time  a  pathless  waste  of  prairie.     He  was  appointed  Aide- 

*  Thomas  Pinckney  was  born  in  Charleston,  23d  October,  1750.  The  child  of  wealthy 
parents,  he  received  a  thorough  classical  education  in  England.  He  was  conspicuous  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and  on  the  assumption  I)}'  Gates  of  the  command  of  the 
Southern  Army  Avas  appointed  his  aide.  When  the  army  was  defeated  at  the  battle  near 
Camden,  Major  Pinckney,  whose  leg  liad  Ijeen  shattered  by  a  musket  ball,  was  taken 
prisoner.  He  succeeded  General  Moultrie  as  Governor  of  South  Carolina  in  1787.  In  1792 
he  received  the  appointment  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Great  Britain,  and  in  1704  was 
sent  witli  the  same  rank  to  Spain  to  treat  in  rcl'crence  to  the  navigation  of  tiic  Mississippi.  In 
1800  he  was  chosen  Meml)er  of  Congress.  At  the  commencement  of  the  second  war  with 
England,  Dcarlioni,  having  received  the  appointment  of  CommaTider-in-Chief,  and  been 
assigned  to  the  Northern  Army,  Pinckney  was  commissioned  as  Major  General  and  ])laced 
in  command  of  the  Southern  Department.  At  the  end  ot  the  war  he  retired  to  his  planta- 
tion, El  Dorado,  where  he  died  on  the  2d  of  November,  1828. 
6 


40 

de-Camp,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  to  Brevet-Major  General  Gaines,  July 
1,  1821,  and  remained  on  the  staff  of  this  officer  till  Dec.  31,  1830,  when 
he  resigned  from  the  army,  and  returned  to  Carolina. 

Here  at  his  plantation,  The  Strip,  on  the  North  Santee  River,  for  a  pe- 
riod of  thirty  years,  JNIajor  Lowndes  resided  during  a  portion  of  each  year, 
returning  to  his  town  residence  in  New-York  in  the  spring.  In  1860,  hav- 
ing purchased  a  small  estate  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson,  near  to  and 
between  the  old  family  seats  of  the  Livingston  family,  into  which  he  had 
married,  he  gave  up  his  town  residence,  and,  a  few  months  later,  in  April, 
1861,  was  forced  to  abandon  his  Carolina  estate  to  swift  destruction  from 
neglect  and  the  plunder  of  marauders,  when  the  sea  coast  of  the  state 
became  the  scene  of  active  war. 

Since  the  year  1861,  Major  Lowndes  has  resided  upon  the  Hudson  Riv- 
er. He  married,  October  24,  1826,  Gertrude-Laura,  daughter  of  Maturin 
Livingston  and  Margaret  Lewis  his  wife,  only  daughter .  and  heiress  of 
Morgan  Lewis,*  a  Major  General  in  the  Army  iu  the  last  war  with  England, 
son  of  Francis  Lewis,  a  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
by  her  has  issue  : 

i.     Julia-Livingston,'    m.    May  19,    1853,    William-Augustus    James,  of 
Lynwood,  near  Rliinebeck-on-lludson,  and  Lad  it^sue  : 

i.  William-Lowndes,"  b.  June  1,  1855. 
jMrs.  James  died  January  20,  1875. 
ii.   Mary-Livingston,*  m.  January  31,  1855,  John-Pyne  March,  son  of  the 
late  Charles  March,  of  Greenland,  New-Hampshire.     By  her  husband, 
who  died  November  25,  1873,  she  had  issue  : 
i.    Charles, 10  b.  September  23,  1856. 
ii.  Clement,"  b.  November  21,  1602. 
ill.  Gertrude-Lewis,*  b.  September  22.  1833;  d.  October  £6,  1834. 
iv.  Anne,*   m.  Georgc-B.  Chase,  of  Boston  [tlarv.  Coll.   1856J,  son  of  the 
late  Theodore  Chase,  of  Portsmouth,  New-Hampshire,  and  afterwards 
of  Boston,  and  has  issue  : 

i.   Stephen,"  b.  January  30,  1863. 
ii.  Gertrude-Lowndes.*" 
v.    Harriett-Lowndes,*  m.  April  27,  1S59,  Eugene  Langdon,  son  of  the  late 
^V  alter  Langdon,  of  Portsmouth,  New-Hampshire,  and  has  issue  : 

*  Upon  the  east  wall  in  St.  James's  Church,  Hyde-Park-on-Hudson.N.  Y.,  there  is  a  mural 
tablet  with  this  inseriptiun  : 

To  the  Memory  of 

Major  General  Morgan  Lewis, 

Younger  son  of 

Francis  Lewis, 

A  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  : 

Born  in  New  York,  Oct.  16,  1754, 

Died  April  7,  1841. 

In  177-5,  he  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  the  army  investin:c  Boston. 

In  1777,  lie  served  umler  General  Gates,  as'Chief  of  his  Statf, 

and  received  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne. 

He  conducted  the  retreat  from  Ticonderoga, 

led  the  advance  at  Stone  Arahia, 

and  was  in  active  service  till  the  close  of  the  war. 

In  1783,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the  Law, 

and  became  Attorney  General,  Chief  Justice,  and 

Governor  of  his  Native  State. 

Under  his  administration  the  foundation  was  laid  for  our  public  school  fund. 

In  1812,  as  Major  General,  he  served  through  the  second  war. 

He  was,  for  many  years,  Senior  Warden  of  this  Chiu'ch, 

and  at  the  period  of  his  death,  was  President  of  the  Cincinnati, 

and  Grand  Master  of  the  Masons. 

Warned  by  ailvancing  years,  with  a  mind  unimpaired, 

He  retired  from  pul)[ie  life  to  the  quiet  of  his  family, 

Where  living  and  beloved,  he  went  down  to  the  grave 

In  a  good  old  age,  and  iu  the  fulness  oi' honors. 


41 

i.  Marion.*''        ii.  Anne-Lowmdes.*° 
Mr.   Langdon  dii'd  Februiary  22,  1866.     Mrs.  Langdon  m.  secondly', 
November  2,  1872,  Philip  Cichuyler,  of  New-York. 

13.  Thomas*  Lowndes  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1824;  m. 
February  12,  1828,  Allen,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Margaret  Deas,  of 
Charleston,  by  whom  he  had  issue: 

i.     Henrv,^  b.  January  29,  1829.  ii.  Saraii-Ion.' 

iii.  Thomas,^  b.  September  20,  1842  ;  d.  18 — . 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  July  8,  1833. 

14.  "William-Price*  Loavndes,  educated  at  New-Haven,  and  after- 
wards at  Columbia  College,  South  Carolina;  m.  October  30,  1833,  Susan- 
Mary-Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Maturin  and  Margaret  (Lewis)  Livingston,  of 
Staatsburgh,  New- York,  who  died  in  New-York,  February  10,  1875.  By 
her  he  had  issue  : 

i.  Margaret,'  m.  June  6,  1865,  Edward-Henry  Costar,  of  the  City  of  New- 
york,  and  has  issue. 

ii.  Francis-Lewis.'  b.  August  8,  1837  ;  now  a  Councillor-at-Law,  of  the  City 
of  Ne\v-Y(^rk. 

iii.  AViLLiAM,'  b.  August  1,  1843  ;  m.  May  22,  1875,  Katherine-Giant,  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  Ransom,  of  New- York. 

15.  Charles-Tidyman*  Loavndes,  m,  December  31,  1829,  Sabina-P^l- 
liott,  daughter  of  Daniel-Elliott  and  Isabella  Huger,  by  whom  he  had  issue : 

i.     Daxiel-Huger,'  h.  February  27,  1832;  d.  August  1,  1832. 

ii.   Daniel-Huger,'  b.  June,  1833;  d.  January  9,  1835. 

iii.  Mary-IIl'ger,^  m.  Edward-Luight  Cottenet,  of  New- York,  and  has  issue. 

iv.  Rawlins,'  b.  July  23,   1838;    m.  ,  Sarah,  daughter  of    (General 

John-S.  Preston,  of  Virginia,  now  a  resident  on  the  family  estate,  Oak- 
lands  Parish  of  St.  Birtholomew's,  South  Carolina. 

V.    Sabina-Huger.'  m.  William-llarleston  Huger,  M.D.,  of  Charleston. 

vi.  Emma-Hlger.' 

16.  Riciiarr-Henry'  Lowndes,  entered  the  Navy  in  1831,  served  ou 
the  Brazils  in  the  Lexington,  as  Aide  to  Com.  A,-J.  Dallas,  in  the  Con- 
stellation, and  as  Aide  to  Com.  Hull,  in  the  Ohio,  when  flag-ship  of  the 
Mediterranean  Scjuadi'on.  Mr.  ]jown<les  resigned  in  1842.  He  in.  Nov. 
10,  1845,  Susati-^Iiddletoii  Parker,  daughter  of  John  and  Emily  (Rut- 
ledge)   Parker,  of  Charleston,  and  has  issue  : 

i.     Caroline,'  m.  Nov.   10,  1870,  Dominic-Lynch  Pringle,  son  of  the  Hon. 

John-Julius  and  Jane  [Lynch]  Pringle,  and  by  him  has  issue. 
ii.   RicHARD-ioN,'   b    Dec.  13.  1847;  m    Nov.  15.  1870,  Alice-Izard,  dau.  of 

Riilph-Izard  and  Charlotte-Georgina  [Izard]  Middleton,  and  has  issue  : 
i.  William,"^  b.  Aug.  10,  1872. 
iii.  Emily-Rvtleuge,'  ra.  Nov.  7,  1874,  Charle-s-Petigru   Allston,  son  of  the 

Hon.  R.-F.-VV.  and  Adele  (Pctigru)  Allston,  and  by  him  has  issue. 
iv.  WiLLiAM-AiKEN,'  b.  April  20,  1856;  d.  April  23,  1863. 

17.  Edward-Rutledge*  Lowndes,  m.,  1833,  Mary-Lucia  Guerard, 
and  by  her  had  issue  : 

i.  James,'  b.  Jan.  6,  1835  ;  was  graduated  at  Smith  Carolina  College,  Dec. 
1854,  and  afterward  a  student  at  Heidelburg.  Councillor-at-Law  ; 
served  on  tile  staff  of  the  Confederate  Army;  resumed  the  practice  of 
the  law  as  partner  of  the  Hon  A.  (i.  Mngrath,  in  Charleston,  in  1866: 
now  a  member  of  the  bar  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  resides  at 
Washington. 

ii.      Edward,'  b.  1836  ;  m.  Celestina  Fuller,  and  had  : 

i.   Edward-Rutledge"^        ii.   Rawlins.'*        iii.  Alice.'" 

iii.     Mary-Lucia.'    iv.  Emily.'    v.  Elizabeth.'    vi.  SopulvPercy.' 


42 

vii.   Julia, ^  m.  William  Hamilton,     viii.  Mary-Ruth.* 
ix.     Catherine-Hamilton.^ 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  1853. 

18.     Thomas-Pincknky*  Lowndes,  ra.  ,   1829,    Margaret-M., 

daughter  of  William  and  Martha  (Blake)  Washington,  of  Charleston,  and 
granddaughter  of  Colonel  William  Washington,  of  the  Revolutionary  Army. 
By  whom  he  had  : 

i.      Jane- Washington,^  m.  May  18,   1854,   Robert-William  Hume,  and 
has  issue : 

i.       JMary-Morse,'"  b.  1858. 
ii.      Margaret-Lowndes,'"  b.  1859. 
iii.    William-Loavndes,'"  b.  18()3. 
iv.     Jane- Washington,'"  b.  1871. 
ii.      WiLLiAM.9  h.  1832  ;  d.  at  Heidelberg,  Germany.  1856. 
iii.    Thomas-Pinckney,'  b.  Feh   22.  1839;  m.  Nov.  9,  18()5,  Anne-Branford 
Frost,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Edward  Frost,  of  iSouth   Carolina,  and 
Harriet-Ilorry  his  wile,  by  whom  Mr.  Lowndes  has  issue  : 
i        Harriet-Uorry,"'  b.  Oct.  1868. 
ii.      Margaret- Washington,"^  b.  May,  1869. 
iii.     AViLLiAM.'o  b.  Oct.  1871. 
iv.     Edward-Frost,'"  b.  March,  1874. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  in  1838. 

Arms    of  Rawlins    Lowndes,   President  of    South    Carolina   in   1778. 

Quarterly  of  six. 
Lowndes  — Argent  fretty  azure,  on  a  canton  gules  a  lion's  erased,  or. 
Weld. — Azure,  a  fesse  nebule,  between  three  crescents,  ermine. 
"Wettenhall. — Vert— -a  cross  engrailed,  ermine. 

Liversage. — 'Argent,  a  chevron  between  three  plough-shares  erect,  sable. 
Whelock. — Argent,  a  chevron  between  three  Catherine  wheels,  sable. 
Rawlins.* 

Note.— Charles*  Lowndes  (page  12),  the  ancestor  of  the  Carolina 
family,  died  in  Charleston,  March  27,  173G.  Among  the  persons  named  in 
his  will,  occur  the  well-known  names  Arthur  Middleton,  Ralph  Izard, 
Colonel  Blake,  Nathaniel  Broughton,  and  Hon.  John  Colleton,  Esq.,  cousin 
of  Sir  John  Colleton,  Baronet,  one  of  the  original  Lords  Proprietors  of  the 
Province. 


It  has  not  been  deemed  within  the  limits  and  scope  of  this  memoir  to 
trace  in  detail  the  descent  of  other  branches  of  the  Cheshire  family  of 
Lowndes,  nor  to  endeavor,  by  a  long  and  uncertain  search,  to  carry  the 
strict  pedigree  of  the  Bostock  line  back  to  a  period  anterior  to  that  given 
by  the  English  representatives  of  the  family  to  Mr.  Burke  or  his  son  for 
incorporation  either  in  the  History  of  the  Commoners  or  in  any  of  their 
later  productions.  A  brief  sketch,  however,  of  the  several  branches  of  this 
old  county  family,  with  such  mention  of  them  as  the  local  histories  aflTord, 
may  have  some  interest  for  American  readers,   especially  as  it  embodies 

*  It  lins  not  been  possible  to  ascertain  with  certainty  the  scnl  of  the  St.  Kitts  family  of  this 
name.  In  tropical  climates  wax  iiimrcssions  arc  rarely  used,  and  can  never  be  preserved. 
A  wafer  impression  from  tlie  seat  of  Mr.  Henry  Rawlius"  is  too  faint  to  authorize  any  descrip- 
tion of  the  arms  of  Jiis  famiiy. 


43 

some  facts  vvliicli  throw  li£;ht  upon  other  early  settlements  in  the  colonies 
by  representatives  of  the  Lowndes  name. 

To  recur  to  the  records  of  Lowndes  of  Bostock  House,  which,  in  tracing 
the  pedigree  of  the  Carolina  branch,  was  brought  down  to 

RiciiAKD*  LowNDKS,  gent.,  of  Bostock  House,  who  succeeded  his  father, 
John'  Lowndks,  on  the  death  of  the  latter,  May  18,  1GG7,  and  who  was 
baptized  on  the  13th  of  October,  1G45. 

He  married and  had  issue  : 

i.  Mary,*  bapt.  Oct.  25,  1670;  ra.  Feb.  3,  1090,  John  Kelso,  Esq.,  of  the 

City  of  Chester, 

ii.  RicuAKD,*  his  heir. 

iii.  Wii.MAM,*  bapt.  St-pt.  30,  1678. 

iv.  Alice,*  ba))t.  June  1,  1083. 

V.  Frances,*  l)apt.  Sept.  2,  1084. 

vi.  Thomas,*  bapt.  Sept.  25,  1080. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  January  14,  1709,  and  was  succeeded  b}-  his  elder  son, 
Richard*  Loavndes,  Esq.,  of  Bostock  House  and  Has.sall  Hall,  baptized 

Oct.   17,  1G73,  who  m.  Margaret,  daughter  of Poole,  gent.,  of  a 

younger  branch  of  the  Pooles,  of  Poole,  in  the  county  of  Chester,  and 
had  issue : 

i.      Margaret,*  bapt.  Sept.  21,  1697. 

ii.      Katherine,'  bapt.  Oct.  7,  1099;  died  unmarried. 

iii.    Frances,*  bnpt.  March  26,  1701  ;  d.  Nuv.  9,  1710,  unmarried. 

iv.     Richard,*  of  BostDck  House  and  Hassall  Hall,  bapt.  April  8,  1703. 

V.      William,*  of  whom  hereafter. 

vi.    John,*  bapt.  May  23,   1707;  m.  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Houghton, 

gent   of  Bagidej',  and  had  issue. 
vii.   Ellen,*  bapt.  August  16,  1709;  died  May  21,  1735,  unmarried, 
viii.  Charles,*  ba]it.  August  27,  1711. 

ix.     Christopher,*  bapt.  June  19,  1713.     Settled  in  America. 
X.      Anne,*  bapt.  Oct.  0,  1715. 
xi.     Edward,^  bapt.  Jan.  22,  1717. 
xii.   Thomas,*  bapt.  Oct.  22,  1720;  died  unmarried, 
xiii.  Francis,*  bapt.  March  28,  1724. 

Mr.  Lowndes  made  his  will  on  the  iilst  of  February,  1720,  and  settled 
bis  estate  of  Bostock  House  on  his  eldest  son  Richard  for  life,  and  his  heirs 
general,  in  consequence  of  which  it  descended  to  the  two  daughters  and 
co-heirs  of  Richard  Lowndes,  Jun.  Esq.  Through  the  marriage  of  his 
father,  be  had  succeeded  to  the  representation  and  property  of  the  eldest 
branch  of  the  ancient  family  of  Weld,  now  represented  in  the  male  line  by 
the  Welds  of  Lul  worth  Castle,  in  the  county  of  Dorset.  This  property, 
AVeld  House  and  the  Hall  of  Hassall,  with  adjoining  estates,  he  settled  on 
bis  eldest  son  for  life  and  then  on  his  heirs  male ;  in  fault  of  which,  on  his 
younger  sons  in  tail  male,  but  reserving  a  power  to  trustees  to  lease,  in 
order  to  raise  portions  for  younger  children.  The  trustees  did  so  for  500 
years,  and  transferred  the  term  to  Richard  Lowndes,  the  son,  who  left  the 
leasehold  interest  to  the  daughters  before  mentioned.  The  free  hold  and 
reversion,  however,  remained  with  William  Lowndes,  the  second  son,  whose 
grandson  and  heir,  the  late  William  Lowndes,  Esq.,  in  1819  purchased  the 
term,  and  thus  became  possessed  of  the  family  estate. 

]\[r.  Lowndes  died  August  30',  1744.     His  second  son, 

William*'  Lowxdes,*  gent.,  of  Sandbach,  baptized  August   11,  170o, 

*  History  of  the  Commor.ers,  iv.  p.  334. 


44 

m.  September  24,  1740,  Anne,  eldest  daughter  and  co-heir  of  William 
Berington,  of  Sandbach,  gent,  (by  Anne,  daughter  and  heir  of  Thomas 
Fletcher  of  Creswellshaw),  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  Berington, 
alias  Barrington,  of  Bradvvall,  in  the  county  of  Chester,  and  by  her,  who 
died  April  9,  1788,  aged  eighty-two  years,  left  at  his  decease,  May  15, 
1789,  an  only  son  and  successor, 

William^  Lowndes,  Esq.,  of  Sandbach,  baptized  June  9,  1744,  who 
m.  December  2,  1789,  at  Astbury,  in  the  county  of  Chester,  Susanna 
Sydebothom,  daughter  and  heir  to  John  Ivirkby,  gent.,  of  Congleton, 
(descended  from  the  Sydebothoms,  of  Northenden,  in  Cheshire),  and  by  her, 
who  died  December  14,  1804,  aged  fifty,  had  issue  : 

i.       William,^  his  heir. 

ii.     John- Sydebothom,^  born  May  13,  1798,  and  died  November  23,  1819, 
aged  twenty-one. 

iii.    Anne-Barrington,^  ni.  July  22,  1818,  at  Astbury,  to  William  Reddall, 
ot  Liverpool,  gent.,  and  has  a  daughter  Susanna  Kii'kby^  lleddali. 

Mr.  Lowndes  was  one  of  the  deputy  lieutenants  for  the  county  of  Chester. 
He  died,  Nov.  7,  1806,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 

William  Lowndes/  Esq.,  of  Hassall  Hall,  born  October  27,  1795.  He 
married,  Sept.  13,  1827,  Mary  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Smith, 
Esq.,  of  Lichfield,  and,  dying  without  issue,  left  his  property,  papers,  and 
the  representation  of  his  family  to  his  niece,  Miss 

Susanna  Kirkbt^  Reddall,  now  of  Parnelscraft,  Congleton. 

Arms  and  Crest.     Same  as  those  of  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina. 

Estafcs. — The  Manor  and  Hall  Estate,  of  Hassall :  Creswellshaw  :  lands 
in  Sandbach :  Betchton :  Astbury :  and  Congleton,  all  in  the  county  of 
Chester. 


We  have  already  seen  that  the  Carolina  family  trace  their  descent  from 
W^illiam  Lowndes,  a  descendant  of  a  younger  son  of  the  family  of  Lowndes 
of  Overton,  who  was  born  possibly  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  who  died  in  1590.  There  was  living  at  Overton*  about  this 
time,  in  possession  of  that  estate,  as  appears  by  a  pedigree  preserved  in  the 
Harleian  manuscripts.  No.  1505,  fol.  336  and  I97,t  a  William  Lowndes, 
who  traced  his  descent  from 

John'  Lowndes  of  the  same  place,  born  about  1500,  who  married  a 

daughter  of Sherman  of  Smallwood   in   the  same  county,  and  had, 

among  others,  a  son  and  heir, 

Richard'  Loavndes,  of  Overton,  who  married  Isabel,  daughter  of 

Lawden,  of  Gosty  Hill,  and  left  a  son,  the 

*  Overton  Hall,  in  the  townsliip  of  Snialhvood,  and  parish  of  Astbniy,  ahout  three 
miles  south-east  from  Bostnck  House,  is  an  ancient  scat  of  the  family  of  Lowiulcs,  hnt  is 
now  occnpied  as  a  farm  liouse.  It  h;is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  of  land 
attached  to  it,  and  helons^'s  to  the  University  of  Canihridse,  to  which  corporatiini  it  possil)]y 
passed  from  the  Executors  of  the  will  of  Tlioir.as  Lowndes.  Most  of  the  house  is  compara- 
tively modern,  but  a  j)ortion  of  the  front  represents  the  orijrinal  striicture,  and  re- 
sembles the  architecture  of  the  time  of  Henry  tiie  Eighth.  On  the  roof,  under  a  canopy,  is  the 
l)cll  which  tolled  the  hours;  the  clock,  which  still  exists,  laidawaj'  in  tiicfrarret,  bcinj;  aftixed 
to  the  inside  of  the  back  wall  of  the  central  hall :  the  dial  plate  was  on  the  outside  of  the 
back  wall,  and  was,  with  the  <'lock,  removed  only  a  few  years  since  when  alterations  were 
made  in  the  huildinp.  The  front  of  the  older  portion  ofthe  building  is  covered  with  rough 
plaster  or  cement;  the  Ijnck  shows  the  timhers  filled  in  with  mortir,  so  peculiar  to  ancient 
buildings  in  Cheshire.  The  walls  ofthe  modern  jiortions  of  the  building  are  of  brick.  A 
gateway  built  alioiit  1700,  with  large  stone  posts,  stands  in  front  ofthe  building. 

t  See  also  The  Visitation  of  Chester  in  1GI3. 


William'  Lowndes  above  referred  to,  who  married  his  cousin,  Isabel 
Lawden,  deu.of  David  or  Daniel  Lawden,  and  had  issue.  This  "William 
Lowndes,  whose  will  was  proved  in  October,  lo92,  had  a  son, 

John*  Lo\vndes,  who  married  Alice,  daughter  of  Randall  Rode,  of 
Rode  in  Astbury,  and  had  "  a  son  and  heir, 

JoiiN^  Lowndes,  aged  12,  1G13,"  who  married  Alice  Stephenson,*  and 
had,  witli  ten  other  children, 

RoBRUT*  Lowndes,  of  Overton,  who  married  Eleanor  Raven,  and  was 
the  father  of 

William^  Lowndes,  of  Overton  and  Lea,  who  married,  on  the  27tli 
January,  1679-80,  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  eventually  co-heir  of  Ral[)h* 
Lowndes,  of  Lea  Halhf  in  Wimbaklsley,  in  the  parish  of  Middlewich.  Tlie  hit- 
ter died  in  1  G1)0,  and  left  to  his  daughter  the  ancient  residence  of  his  family, 
in  consequence  of  which  William^  Lowndes  established  himself  soon  after- 
wards at  Lea  Hall.  This  gentleman  is  recorded  in  Burke  as  the  founder  of 
the  present  family  of  Lowndes  of  Barrington  Hall.  He  resided  sometimes 
at  Overton  and  sometimes  at  Lea  Hall,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

John*  Lowndes,  of  Overton  and  Lea,  who,  by  his  wife  Anne,  had  an 
only  child. 

Sarah,'  who  married  Awnsham  Churchill,  and  had  issue.  She  sold 
Lea  and  Overton  to  her  uncles. 

By  the  death  of  all  the  brothers  of  his  mother  without  issue,  Mr.  Lowndes 
became  heir  to  the  estate  of  Lea  Hall  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  his 
uncle  Ralph^  Lowndes  of  Lea,  who  died  in  1716. 

He  was  the  brother  of  Thomas*  Lowndes,  baptized  at  Astbury,  Dec.  7, 
1692,  who  was,  according  to  Burke,  the  founder  of  the  professorship  of 
astronomj'  at  Cambridge.     He  was  also  brother  of 

Robert*  Lowndes,!  who  purchased  the  Lea  estate  from  his  niece  Sarah, 
only  child  of  John*  Lowndes  of  Overton  and  Lea,  and  who,  by  his  first  wife 
Ruth  Graves,  had : 

i.    Elizabeth,'  who  died,  unmarried. 

He  married,  2dly.  Mary,  daughter  of Kenyon,  and  widow  of  the 

Rev.  W.  Turton,  and  by  her  had  issue  : 

ii.  Edward,'  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  who  after  a  Ions  residence  in 
thiit  city,  returned  to  Enirland,  and  died  at  17  Mount  Street,  West- 
minster Road,  in  1801,  leaving  an  estate  in  Carolina. 

*  Bark  p. 

t  Le'ii  Hall,  in  Wimhaklsley,  in  tlic  pnrish  of  Middlewich,  like  many  other  old  conntry 
houses  in  P^n^land  is  now  ociui)ied  Itv  a  farmer;  the  present  biiililinfr,  which  occui)ies  hut 
a  portion  of  the  foundation  of  the  orijrinal  hall,  is  a  large  square  house  in  the  barbarous 
style  of  the  ('ominonwealth  perioil.  Some  of  tlic  walls  about  the  grounds  are  still  standing 
with  their  massive  pillars.  The  parish  church  dates  apparently  from  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Orincrod,  in  his  History  of  Cheshire,  p.  101,  says  : 

"There  is  a  school  in  Middlewich,  in  which  eight  boys  are  educated  free  of  expense,  who 
.nre  selected  Irom  the  parish  by  the  four  church-wardens,  each  warden  nominating  two 
boys.  This  school  was  founded  before  1693,  when  tlic  parish  had  the  apjiointmcnt  of  the 
master;  in  1709,  R-  bcrt  Lowndes  nominated,  who  claimed  that  right  on  account  of  his 
giving  the  school-house.  An  indenture,  dated  June  '2-1,  1762,  recites  that  Ralph  Lowndes, 
late  of  Lea  Hall,  Wimbaldsley,  clerk,  deceased,  as  owner  of  the  mansion-house  called  Lea 
Hall,  and  the  demesne  lands  thereto  belonging,  and  of  several  other  messuages,  lands, 
tithes,  hereditaments,  in  Lea,  otherwise  Wimbaldsley,  in  the  parish  of  Middlewich,  and 
elsewhere  in  the  county  of  Chester,  was  entitled  to  the  nomination  of  a  master  or  masters 
of  the  school  situate  in  Newton,  near  Middlewich,  commonly  called  Middlewich  School." 

The  manor  of  Winibaldslcy  i)asscd  about  the  beginning  of  this  century  from  the  devisees 
of  Robert  Lowudce,  Esq.,  to  Sir  Philip  Leicester,  liart. 

I  Burke. 


46 

iii.  Robert,'  of  Lea  and  Pnlterton,  who  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
co-heir  of  Richard  Milnes,  of  Chesterfield,  and  by  her,  who  died  in 
1709,  liad  : 
i.    MiLNES,*"  Avho  died,  s.  p.,  aet  36. 
ii.   Thomas, *°  of  Barringtun. 
iv.  Mart.' 

Mary'  Lowndes,  who  married  Chadwick  Gorst,  Esq.,  of  Preston,  and 
died  in  1804,  had  issue  by  him  [who  died  in  1797]  : 

Edward"'  Gorst,  Esq.,  of  Preston,  who  by  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  daughter 
of  James  Wigglesworth,  Esq.,  had  issue  : 

i.     Thomas,^^  of  Palterton,  who  took  the  name  of  Lowndes. 

1.  ii.   Edward-Chaddock,*'  who  also  assumed  the  name  of  Lowndes. 
iii.  Elizabeth.*^ 

iv.  Barbara-Jane.^^ 

2.  V.    Mary.^1 

1.  Edward-Chaddock"  Lowndes,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
late  J.  D.  Nesham.  Esq.,  and  by  her  had  issue.  He  died  in  18o9,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  elder  son 

Edavard-Chaddock'^  Lowndes,  born  in  1833,  who  was  educated  at 
Rugby  and  Trinity  College,  Cambridg'e ;  B.A.  1856,  M.A.  1859.  He  is  a 
magistrate  for  the  counties  of  Lancaster  and  Wiltsliire. 

Arms. — Argent,  fretty  azure  an  a  canton,  sable,  a  lion's  head  erased,  or. 

Crest. — A  lion's  head  erased,  or. 

The  arms,  it  will  be  noticed,  are  the  same  as  those  of  Lowndes  of  Bos- 

tock,  except  in  the  color  of  the  canton. 
Seats. — Castle  Combe,  Chippenham. 
Palterton  Hall,  Mansfield. 

2.  Mary"  Gorst,  of  Preston,  manned  in  1823,  William  Clayton, 
Esq.,  of  Lostock  Hall,  and  had  issue,  among  others : 

George-Alan'*  Lowndes,  Esq.,  of  Barrington  Hall,  co.  Essex;  a 
Deputy  Lieutenant  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  that  county.  High  Sheriff, 
1861,  who  married  Nov.  13,  1856,  Helen-Emma,  2d  daughter  of  the  late  Rev. 
Arthur-Johnson  Daniell,  of  Rampisham  Manor,  co.  Dorset,  and  has  issue. 
Mr.  Lowndes,  whose  patronymic  is  Clayton,  assumed  by  royal  license  in 
1840,  the  name  and  arms  of  Lowndes  in  succeeding  to  the  estate  of  the  late 
Thomas  Lowndes,  Esq..  of  Barrington  Hall. 

Seat. — Barrington  Hall,  Haltield,  Broad  Oak,  Essex. 


The  pedigree  of  the  Lowndes  fiimil}'  of  Lea  Hall,  sometimes  written 
Legh  Hall,  was  traced  for  the  writer  by  the  late  Mr.  H.  G.  Somerby,  from 

Roger'  Lowndes,  of  .Sandbach,  who,  in  accordance  with  a  request  in 
his  will,  was  buried  in  the  church  there  on  the  17tli  of  ]\Iay,  1586.  By  his 
wife.  Pollen,  he  had  a  son, 

Ralph,^  born  before  1562,  who  married,  October  22,  1587,  Elizabeth 
Poole,  and  had 

Ralph'  Lowndes,  who  married,  May  21,  1622,  Eleanor  Lea,  and  was 
the  father  of 

Samuel^  Lowndes,  of  Marshall,  and 

Ralph*  Lowndes,  of  Lea  Hall,  gent.,  baptized  Mny  21,  1626,  who  m. 

Elizabeth ,  and  d.  in  1690,  having  made  his  will  Jan.  2(),   1688-9. 

He  was  the  father,  among  others,  of 


47 

i.  Kalph,*  hapt.  at  Middlewich,  Oct.  29,  1663,  who  bequeathed  Lea  Hall  to 
his  nepliew,  John'  Lowndes,  of  Overton,  Hon  ot"  liis  sister  Elizalieth, 
He  innde  his  will  July  12,  1716,  but  it  was  not  |)roved  till  Sept.  22,  1727. 

ii.  Thomas,*  who  was  named  in  hi«  father's  will  as  entitled  to  a  bequest  when 
he  should  attain  the  aire  of  twenty-one,  of  whom  presently. 

iil.  ELfZABETn,*  who  was  married  at  Middlewich  on  the  27th  of  January, 
1679-80,  to  William  Lowndes,  of  Overton,  as  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. 

Thomas'*  Lowndes,  who  was  not  of  age  in  1 G89,  and  who  probably  died 
unmarried,  is  often  confused  with  his  nephew,  Thomas'  of  Overton,  born  in 
1692. 

]t  is  somewhat  difficult  to  determine  which  of  these  two  persons,  uncle 
and  nephew,  was  Provost  Marshal  of  South  Carolina  and  also  the  found- 
er of  the  professorship  at  Cambridge,  as  is  manifest  from  the  provi- 
sions of  the  will  containing  the  bequest.  IJurke  has  accepted  without  ques- 
tion, in  his  account  of  the  Rarrington  Hall  family,  the  claim  of  that  line. 
Yet  a  study  of  the  probabilititis  of  the  case,  and  of  the  pedigree  of  the  Lea 
IhxU  family,  would  point  to  the  older  wearer  of  the  name  as  the  bustling 
and  nervous  correspondent  of  the  Board  of  Trade  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 

Thomas  Lowndes,  who  described  himself  as  of  Overton  in  the  county  of 
Chester,  residing  in  London,  made  his  will  May  6,  1748,  and  died  shortly 
after.  In  his  will,  which  was  proved  on  the  4th  of  June  following,  he  di- 
rected his  lands  in  Smalhvood  and  other  places  in  Cheshire  to  be  sold,  and 
the  proceeds  devoted  to  the  foundation  of  a  professorship  of  astronomy  at 
Cambridge.  He  left  also  bequests  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  to  the 
Foundling  Hospital.  He  bequeathed  his  baronies  of  land  in  South  Caro- 
lina to  Handle  Wilbraham,  Esq.,  and  Thomas  Booth,  Esq.,  in  trust,  they  to 
have  out  of  them  £100  each.  He  also  spoke  of  his  invention  relative  to 
salt.  His  will,  however,  contains  no  mention  of  any  of  his  kindred,  and  is 
therefore  of  no  help  in  a  direct  determination  of  his  family.  Of  the  first 
named  of  his  executors,  Thomas  Booth,  little  is  known.  The  second,  Ran- 
dle  Wilbraham,  was  of  Rode,  in  Cheshire  ;  he  w^as  abarrister-at-law,  LL.U. 
and  Deputy  Steward  of  the  L'niversity  of  Oxford. 

It  is  clear  that  the  signer  of  this  will  was  the  same  Thomas  Lowndes  who 
was  Provost  Marshal  of  Carolina  under  the  Lords  Proprietors,  and  again 
under  the  Crown.  By  the  records  of  the  Board  of  Trade  for  October  2.5, 
1720,  there  is  entered  a  grant  of  twelve  thousand  acres  of  land  in  South 
Carolina  to  Isaac  Lowndes,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  who,  by  a  deed  of  the2Gth 
of  August.  1729,  declared  that  his  name  was  made  use  of  only  as  trustee  for 
Thomas  Lowndes,  of  the  city  of  Westminster,  gent.  And  this  Isaac 
Lowndes  was  a  son  of  Samnel*  Lowndes,  of  Marshall,  and  therefore  first  cous- 
in to  Thomas®  Lowndes,  of  Lea,  the  elder  of  the  name.  It  would  seem  to  be 
more  probable,  that  Isaac®  should  have  held  the  trusteeship  for  his  cousin 
than  for  a  more  distant  relative.  Nor  is  there  any  inijirobability  that  Thom- 
as," of  Lea,  should  have,  late  in  life,  purchased  Overton,  when  that  estate 
was  sold  by  the  heiress,  Sarah,  daughter  of  .John"  J>owndes,  since  his 
elder  sister  Elizabeth,  by  her  marriage  with  William  Lowndes  of  Overton, 
had  lived  and  died  there. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  accept  Burke's  statement  that  the  founder  of 
the  Cambridge  professorship  was  Thomas  the  younger,  son  of  Elizabeth, 
we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  hardly  thirty-two  years  of  age, 
when,  after  long  scheming  over  the  settlement  of  the  Carolinas,  he  received 


48 

the  Patents  of  Provost  Murslial,  Clerk  of  the  Peace  and  Clerk  of  the 
Crown,  and  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  the  Board  of  Trade,  the  whole 
tone  of  which  shows  that  lie  was  of  age  and  experience,  althongh  some- 
what of  an  invalid,  and  given  to  j^ersistent  and  worrying  complaints.* 


There  remains,  in  conclusion,  but  one  other  family  to  notice.  It  is,  how- 
ever, of  unusual  interest,  since  it  is  that  with  which  the  American  families 
of  the  name  in  V'iiginia,  and  possibly  in  Maryland,  claim  descent.  For  the 
following  statement  of  23edigree  showing  its  several  branches,  each  of  which 
has  now  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  constituted  a  separate  county 
family,  the  writer  is  indebted  to  the  compilation  from  the  family  pajjers  in 
possession  of  William  Lowndes,  Esquire,  of  the  Bury,  Chesham,  Bucks.t 

Captain '   Loavnes,  who  was   believed   to   be   a  son   of  Robert' 

Lowndes  of  Winslow,  by  Jane  Croke,  or  Crowke,  his  wife,  and  who  was  an 
early  settler  of  Virginia,  where  he  ac(}uired  a  large  plantation,  by  his  will 
settled  his  estates  on  his  heirs  male,  with  remainder  to  the  heirs  male  of  the 
younger  son  of  William  Lowndes,  of  Winslow,  co.   Bucks.     He  m.  Anne, 

dangliter  and  heiress  of Gates,  of  Jamestown,  of  the  family  of  Sir 

Tiiomas  Gates, $  by  whom  he  had  issue : — 

i.       William,-  who  died  in  1589. 

1.  ii.     Robert,^  born  15'J<1. 
iii.    Sarah,-^  born  159G. 

1.  Robert"  Lownes,  who  lived  at  Jamestown  from  1G20  to  1650,  m. 
Elizabeth  Newport,  and  had  : — 

i.       RicuARD.'  died  younsr,  1634. 
ii.      JuiiN,^  died  in  infancy,  10"22. 

2.  iii.    William,^  born  in  1624. 

2.  AVilliam'  Lo\vnes,  m.  in  1G50,  Anne  Brocas,  and  had: — 

3.  i.      John,"*  birn  1654. 

4.  ii.     RoiiERT.*  burn  1656. 

id.    Reisecca,'*  died  in  infancy. 

3.  John*  Lownes,  of  Jamestown  and  Lownes  Creek,  in  Virginia, 
merchant  and  planter,  m.  Margaret,*  daughter  of  Robert'  Lowndes,  of  Wins- 
low,  CO.  Bucks,  by  whom  he  had  : — 

*  Focoids  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Colonial  Papers,  Carolina  2,  Vol.  .5.  (See  Appendix.) 
t  Tiiis  Kenticnian,  who  is  Lord  ot  the  Munor  of  ClicsliMni,  is  also  the  owner  of  the  ad- 
joining; (State  of  Hiindncli,  in  Clic.'iliam.  which  was  held  by  fli(^  Chase  family  of  that  place 
V(ir  riearlv  two  ccntinics  from  the  time  of  llcniy  the  7th,  when  a  younger  branch  of  the 
8iiff()ll<  family  of  that  name  moved  into  BiickinLdianisliirc,  and  settled  at  Chesham,  Amer- 
shain  and  (Uvat  Marlow.  From  a  yotmgcr  son  of  a  junior  branch  of  the  Cliase  family  of 
Chesham,  dcsceii<ls  the  large  Auk  rican  family  which  settled  in  Essex  County,  Mas^aehn- 
setts,  about  l(i;5().  and  has  spread  from  tliat  county  over  a  large  i>art  cf  New-Eni;land  and 
the  north-western  States  —Sec  "  Heraldic  Journal,"  vol.  iv.  18(58;  Art   "  Cha.se  Family." 

X  SirTliom:?s  Citites  was  a  member  of  the  London  Company,  formed  in  1609  tor  the 
colonization  of  Virginia.  lie  sailed,  with  Sir  George  Summers,  soon  after,  but  was 
M'recked  near  the  Bermudas,  and  did  net  reach  Jamestown  till  the  following  year,  six 
months  after  Ca))taiu  Smith  had  left  it.  Finding  it  in  a  starving  condition,  he  embarked 
with  the  remaining  scttltrs,  about  sixty  in  all,  for  Newfoundland.  At  the  month  of  the 
river  they  encoinitered  Lord  l)e  la  War,  the  new  Goveriua-,  "  with  provisions  and  comforts 
of  all  kinds,"  and  retinned  with  him  to  Jamestown.  Ir.  IGll,  when  Lord  De  la  War  re- 
signed his  office,  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  who  iiad  prcvionslv  returned  to  EnLrland.  was  aimointed 
by  the  Council  to  succeed  him,  with  full  powers  as  Governor. —  O/d  Chwc)ies,  Ministers, 
and  Families  of  Virginia,     liishop  Meade,  i.  pp.  09,  7-5,  it  supra. 


49 

i.  RouERT,*  of  Jamestown  and  Lownes  Creek,  in  Virifinia.  born  1092; 
died  in  177"),  s.p.,  wlien  the  settled  estates  ])aHsed  to  IiIh  unele's  <riand- 
son  as  heir  male.      Ho  left  his  personal  estate  to  Charles  Lownea,  of 

ii.  Margaret,*  married  James  Baez. 

iii.  Keuecca.*  died  in  ehildhood. 

iv.  Annk,*  died  in  cliildhoud. 

V.  James,*  died  iu  ehildhood. 

4.     RoBEKT"*  Lownes,  of  Jamestown,  married  Mary  Jennings,  and  had 
bv  lier  : — 


William,*  born  1097. 

ii. 

Anne,*      died  young. 

iii. 

Marv,* 

iv. 

Sarah,*       " 

V. 

KOUEKT,*      "            " 

5.  William^  Lownks,  of  Matovey  Creek,  married,  in  17o7,  Jane 
Wormley,  and  had  by  her: — 

i.       Richard,*  born  1757,  who  succeeded  to  the  settled  estates  in  Virnjiniji, 
when  he  was  eighteen  years  uf  age,  and  who  died  in  '830,  unman  ied. 
ii.      Mary,*  m. Lee,  of  Jamestown. 

Robert'  Lowndes,  of  "Winsloav,  a  scion  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Lowndes,  of  Lea  Hall,  in  Bnckingliamshire,  who  died  in  1  602,  married  in 
157G  Jane  Croke,  or  Crowke,  and  had,  among  other  children, 

William'^  Lowndes,  of  Winslow,  bapt.  Jan.  5,  1585,  npon  whose  chil- 
dren the  American  estates  with  remainder  were  settled,  in  accordance  with 

the  will  of  Captain  ^   Lownes,  died  in   James    City,  June    G,   IG54. 

He  m.  Oct.  27,  1G12,  Frances  Wendover,  and  had  twelve  children,  of  wliom 
we  notice : — 

i.       Edmund,'  bapt.  1617,  who  lived  in  Virginia  and  North   Carolina,  from 
lfi43  to   Ki.JO.     In   1050,  he  discharged  certain  trusts  as  Trustee  to 
the  settled  estates  with  Robert-  Lownes,  at  James  City,  on  the  mar- 
riage of  William'  Lownes  and  Anne  Brocas. 
1.  ii.     Robert,'  bapt.  July  4,  1619. 

1.  Robert'  Lowndes,  of  Winslow,  who  fled  to  America  in  1 642,  where 
he  remained  for  abont  eight  years,  when  he  returned  to  Winslow,  and  there 
resided  till  his  death.  He  was  buried  Jan.  29,  1G83.  He  married  1st,  Mar- 
garet Selby,  and  had  : — 

i.       Margaret,*  wife  of  John  Lownes  of  Jamestown. 

INIr.  Lowndes  married  2d,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  Fitzwilliam,  and 
bad,  with  four  daughters,  a  son  : — 

William*  Lowndes,*  of  Westminster,  and  of  Winslow,  born  at  Winslow, 
JSov.  1,  1652. 

This  gentleman,  who  has  already  been  referred  to,  was  by  far  the  most 
distinguished  man  of  all  who  have  ever  borne,  in  England,  his  old  and  well- 
known  name.  He  sat  for  many  years  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  served 
as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  IMeans.  He  originated  the 
funding  system,  and  rose  to  great  power  and  influence  in  Parliament.  In 
recognition  of  his  services,  Queen  Anne  conferred  uj)on  liim  the  office  of 
auditor  of  the  land  revenue  for  life,  in  reversion  to  his  sons,  with  an  aug- 
mentation to  his  coat  of  arms.     He  married  1st,  Oct.  24,  1677,  Elizabeth, 

*  Dictionary  of  the  LLindcd  Gentry.    Sir  Bernard  Bnrkc.    Art.  Lowndes  of  \V'liaddon. 


50 

daughter  of  Sir  Roger  Harsnett,  and  by  her,  who  died  Nov.  6,  1680,  had  a 
son  : — 

2.  i.      Robert,*  his  heir  ;  bapt.  in  1G78,  at  Winslow. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married  2d,  Nov.  26,  1683,  Jane  Hopper,  by  whom,  who 
died  in  July,  1685,  he  had  a  daughter  : — 

ii.     Anne,*  born  in  1684,  who  married. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married  3d,  Jan.  12,  1686,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Richard  Marty n,  D.D.,  by  whom,  who  died  July  6,  1689,  he  had  : — 

3.  iii.    William,*  of  Astwood  Bury,  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Lowndes-Stone, 

of  Brightonwell  Park, 
iv.     Elizabetii,*  born  in  l(i88  ;  m.  Thomas  Buncombe,  Esq.,  and  d.  in  1712. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married  4th,  Nov.  29,  1691,  Rebecca,  daughter  of  John 
Shales,  by  whom  he  had  fourteen  children,  seven  sons  and  seven  daughters, 
and  among  them, 

4.  Charles*  Lowndes,  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Lowndes  of  Chesham. 

Mr.  Lowndes  died  in  1722.  In  his  will,  dated  March  27,  1721-2,  proved 
1723,  he  desired  to  be  buried  at  Winslow,  co.  Bucks,  where  he  was  born. 
He  also  mentioned  his  eldest  son  Robert  and  his  sons  Richard,  Joseph 
an<l  William.  To  his  eldest  son  by  his  "  present  wife  "  he  bequeathed  the 
new  house  at  Chesham,  ai.d  entailed  his  property,  which  was  very  large, 
upon  his  grandchildren. 

Mr.  Lowndes  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

2.  Robert'  Loavxdes,*  Esquire,  of  Winslow,  Bucks,  who  died  in  1728, 
and  left  by  his  wife  Margaret,  a  son  and  his  successor, 

RiCHAUD^  LoAVNDES,  Esquire,  of  Winslow,  high  sheriff  of  Bucks  in  1742, 
and  M.  P.  for  that  county  in  the  same  year.  He  married  Essex,  youngest 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  Charles  Shales,  of  London,  by  Anne,  his  wife,  2nd 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  Thomas  Barrington,  P2sq.,  son  of  Sir  John  Barring- 
ton,  Bart.,  of  Barrington  Hall,  who  was  3rd  in  descent  from  the  marriage  of 
Sir  Thomas  Barrington  with  the  Honorable  Winifred  Pole,  granddaughter 
and  co-heir  of  Margaret  Plantagenet,  Countess  of  Salisbury,  daughter  and 
sole  heir  of  George,  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  of  King  Edward  IV. 

By  this  lady,  Mr.  Lowndes  left  a  son  and  successor, 

William'  Lowndes,  of  Winslow  and  Whaddon,  who  took  the  name  of 
Sell)y  before  Lowndes.  By  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Goostrey, 
Esq.,  of  London,  whom  he  married  in  1766,  he  had: 

i.  William,^  his  heir. 

ii.  Robert.* 

iii.  Richard,*  A.M.,  Vicar  of  Swanbonrne. 

iv.  Thomas,*  LL.B.,  Rector  of  North  Crawley. 

William-Selby*  Lowxdes,  Esq.,  of  Whaddon  Hall  and  Winslow,  who 
sat  in  Parliament  as  member  for  Buckinghamshire  from  1807  to  1820,  mar- 
ried Aug.  2o,  1806,  Ann-Eleanora-Isabella,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Graham 
Ilanmer,  and  liad  issue : 

i.  William-Selby,'  his  heir,  born  Nov.  5,  1807. 

ii.  TnoMAS-VViLLiAM,9  b.  Oct.  8,  1810. 

iii.  Richard- VViLLiAM,9  b.  Oct.  2,  1811. 

iv.  IIarry-\Villiam,»  h.  Sept.  20,  1812. 

V.  Edward- William,'  b.  Sept.  9,  1813. 

vi.  Charles- William,'  b.  Nov.  10,  1815. 

*  Burke. 


51 

Mr.  Selby  Lowndes  died  May  18,  1810,  and  was  succeeded  liy 

Wilmam-Ski.hy^  Loavxdes,  now  of  Whaddou  Ilall  and  Winslow,  co. 
Bucks,  who  married,  first,  June  28,  1882,  Lucy,  eldest  daughter  of  L'^aac- 
Rawlings  Hartman,  Ksq.,  Coldstream  Guards,  and  by  her,  who  died  21st 
October,  18.j2,  has  issue. 

Mr.  Lowndes  married,  second,  Clara,  2d  dau.  of  I.-K.  Hartman,  Esq. 

Mr.  Selby  Lowndes  is  one  of  the  co-heirs  of  the  Tiaron^'  of  (irandison, 
and  also  a  co-heir  of  the  Barony  of  Montacute.  lie  lias  petitioned  her 
majesty  to  determine  the  abeyance  of  the  latter  in  his  favor. 

Arms  of  Lowndes  of  Whaddon  :  Argent  fretty  azure,  the  interlacing  each 
charged  with  a  bezant,  on  a  canton,  gules,  a  leopard's  head  erased  at  the 
neck,  or.     Crest,  a  leopard's  head,  as  in  the  arms,  goiged  with  a  laurel  biancli, 

PI"; 

Seat,  Whaddon  Hall,  AVinslow,  Bucks. 

3.  William^  Lowndes.*  of  Astwood  Bury,  in  Bucks,  grandson  of 
Robert'  Lowndes,  the  Virginia  refugee,  married  in  1711,  Margaret,  dau'diter 
and  heiress  of  Layton,  Esquiie,  and  had  issue : 

AViLLiAM,*  born  in  1712,  who  married,  1744,  Catherine,  eldest  dangliter 
of  Francis  Lowe,  Esq.,  of  Baldwyn  Brightwell,  in  the  County  of  Oxford, 
and  assumed,  in  consequence  of  the  testamentary  injunction  of  Mr.  Lowe, 
the  surname  of  Stone.  He  died  in  1773,  and  left,  with  a  daughter  Cath- 
erine, a  son,  who  became 

^YILLIA^I''  Lowndes,  of  Astwood  and  North  Crawley,  Bucks,  and  of 
Baldwyn  Brightwell,  co.  Oxford.  He  was  born  in  1750,  and  on  the  death 
of  his  mother  in  1789,  assumed  the  surname  and  arms  of  Stone.  He 
married,  in  1775,  Elizabeth,  2d  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Richard  Garth, 
Esquire,  of  Morden,  in  Surrey,  and  by  her,  who  died  in  1837,  had  with  live 
daughters,  three  sons : 

i.       William-Francis.' 

ii.     Richard,*  burn  in  1790,  in  holy  orders,  who  assumed  the  surname  of 

Garth. 
iii.    Henry-Owkn.*  born  in  1795,  who  settled  in  America,  find   married  in 

1827,  Sarah-Anne,  daughter  of  Augustus   Lriiuhish,  Esq.,  and  had 

issue. 

William-Francis*  Lowndes-Stone,  b.  Oct.  27,  1783;  maiiied,  October  3, 
1811,  Caroline,  2d  daughter  of  Sir  William  Strickland,  Bart.,  ot  Boyntcn, 
CO.  York,  and  had,  among  others, 

WiLLiAM-CuARLKs,'  b.  Aug.  7,  1812,  who  married,  IMay  7,  1810,  Cath- 
erine, daughter  of  Rev.  Reginald  Winniatt,  and  by  her  lell  at  liia 
decease,  April  21,  1845,  two  daughters  : 

i.   Catherine  Charlotte.''' 

ii.  Susan.*" 

Catherine    Charlotte  '°    succeeded    lier    grandfather   on    his    death, 
in  1858,  and  married  in  18()2,  her  cousin.  Capt.  Robert  Thomas  Norton  of 
the  Grenadier  Guards,  by  whom  she  has  issue: 
i.       ,  a  son,  born  1863. 

Seat,  Brightwell  Park,  Tetsworth,  Oxfordshire.f 

*  Dictionary  of  tlic  Lnndeil  Gentry. 

t  For  dcscn))tion  of  Briglitwcli  Parl<,  see  Binkt's  Visitation  of  Scats  and  Arms,  ii  p.  196, 

8 


52 


4.  Charles*  Lowndes,*  son  of  William  Lowndes,  Esq.,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  by  his  fourth  wife,  Rebecca  Shales,  married  Anne,  eldest 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  Charles  Shales,  and  sister  of  Essex  Sliales,  who 
married  Richard  Lowndes,  nephew  of  Chai'les.  By  this  lady  Mr.  Secretary 
Lowndes  had 

William*  Lowndes,  of  Chesham,  Commissioner  of  Excise,  who  married 
Lydia  Mary,  daughter  of  Robert  Osborne,  Esq.,  and  had  a  sou  and 
successor, 

AViLLiAM^  Lowndes,  Esq.,  of  Chesham,  who  married  Harriet,  daugliter 
of  John  Kingston,  of  Rickmansworth,  Herts,  and  left  issue,  with  seven  other 
children, 

William'  Lowndes,  Esq.,  of  Chesham,  who  died  in  1864;  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace  for  Bucks  and  Herts  ;  Deputy  Lieutenant  for  the  former  county 
and  High  Sheriff  in  1848  ;  a  B.  C.  L.  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  who  was 
born  Nov.  24,  1807,  and  married  twice.  By  his  first  wife  Mary  Harriet, 
daughter  of  Kender  Mason,  Esq.,  of  Bell  House,  Amersham,  who  died 
April  18,  1830,  he  had, 

William'  Lowndes,  Esq.,  of  the  Bury,  Chesham  ;  wdio  has  been  already 
referretl  to  as  the  furnisher  for  tliis  memoir  of  the  Virginia  pedigree  above 
given.  Mr.  Lowndes,  who  was  born  in  1834,  was  educated  at  Trinity  Hall, 
Cambridge,  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  18G3.  He  was  called  to 
the  bar.  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  in  1859.  He  is  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Dep- 
uty Lieutenant  for  Buckingliamsliire. 

Mr.  Lowndes,  who  is  a  claimant  of  the  ancient  Barony  of  INIontbermer, 
quarters  the  arms  of  Lowndes  of  Winslow,  with  those  of  Shales,  Harring- 
ton, Pole,  and  Plantagenet.  The  crest  is  the  same  as  Lowndes  of  Whaddon. 
His  motto  is  "  Ways  and  Means." 

Seat,  The  Bury,  Chesham. 

The  earliest  seats  in  Cheshire  of  the  Lowndes  family,  who  received  a 
grant  of  arms  in  1  18U,  were  at  Orton  and  at  Lea  Hall.  A  branch  settled  at 
a  very  early  period  in  the  county  of  York,  the  luime  of  Lownde  of  Cave,  of 
Holdei'uesse,  of  Thorneton  in  the  Benes,  and  of  Harewond  continually  oc- 
curring in  the  commissions  of  array  for  that  county  in  the  loth  and  14th 
ceiifnrics. 

William'  Lowndes,  of  the  Bury,  Chesham,  made  during  his  life-time  ex- 
tensive c.)ll(!ctions  of  documents  relating  to  the  several  families  of  Lowndes. 
According  to  the  old  pedigree  of  the  Winslow  branch,  the  first  of  the  name 
in  England,  and  the  common  ancestor  of  the  race,  was  Wdliani,  Seigneur 
de  Lounde,  who  accompanied  William  the  Coinpieror  into  England  in  I00(), 
and  acquired  large  possessions  in  the  counties  of  Lucks,  Northampton, 
Lincoln  and  Bedford.  P^'om  him  Robert'  Loundes  of  Winslow,  who  nuir- 
ried  Jane  Coiks,  Croke,  or  Crovvke,  as  the  name  has  been  variously  spelled, 
was  sixteenth  in  descent.  It  is  not  improbable  that  this  pedigree  is  correct, 
yet  it  shoidd  be,  like  all  ancestral  records  which  come  down  to  us  fi'om  so 
remote  a  period,  regarded  only  as  a  possible  or  probable  pedigree.  In- 
deed, there  are  few  family  records  in  England  which  spring  from  the  Con- 
quest, except  those  of  great  historic  lines,  closely  interwoven  with  that  of 
the  times  in  which  they  lived,  that  can  be  regarded  as  wholly  correct. 

*  Burke's  Dictionary  of  the  Landed  Gentry. 


53 

A  pedigree  of  the  family  of  Percliay  is  recorded  in  the  Herald's  Visita- 
tions of  Yorkshire,  lo84-lG12,  which  shows  also  the  antitiuity  of  the  family 
of  Lowiide  and  their  arms.  Thomas  or  John  Perchay,  who  lived  about 
]3r)(),  married  a  daughter  and  heir  of  Lownde  of  Kiton,  iu  Kisdale,  whose 
arms  are  (juartered  with  those  of  Perchay,  and  are  the  same,  ai'gent  fretty 
azure,  as  Lowndes  of  liostock,  but  without  the  canton. 

Bardsley,  in  his  work  on  surnames,  derives  the  name  of  Lowndes  from 
tlie  old  English  word  of  launde,  which  "signified  a  pretty  and  rich  piece  of 
grassy  sward  in  the  heart  of  a  forest,  what  we  should  now  call  an  open 
wooil,  in  fact.  Thus  it  is  we  term  the  space  in  our  gardens  within  the 
surrounding  shrubberies,  latvns. 

'•  Chaucer  says  of  Theseus  on  hunting  bent — 

To  the  launde  he  ridcth  him  ful  right, 
There  was  the  hart  wont  to  have  liis  flight. 

"In  the  'Morte  Arthur,'  too,  we  are  told  of  hunting — 
At  the  hartcs  in  these  liye  laundes. 

"This  is  the  source  of  more  surnames  than  we  might  imagine. 
"  Hence  are  sprung  our  'Launds,'  'Lands,'  'Lowndes,'"*  etc. 

In  a  list  of  ninety-nine  wills  of  persons  of  this  name  proved,  in  the 
probate  court  at  Chester,  between  the  years  1586  and  1708,  the  writer  found 
the  names  variously  spelled,  viz. :  Lounds,  Lownes,  Lounde,  Loundes, 
Lound,  Lownde,  Lownds,  Lowndes.  The  iirst  of  the  spellings  here  given 
occurs  in  the  will  of  Roger  Lounds  of  Sandbach,  and  the  last,  which  has  been 
the  form  in  general  use  for  now  more  than  a  century,  is  found  in  that  of  John 
Lowndes  of  Cranage. 


Notes  contributed  to  the  local  column  of  the  Manchester  (England) 
Courier : — 

Note  No.  238.—"  On  the  5th  of  June,  1830,  died  at  the  Ilot  Wells,  Bristol,  in  his 
8f)th  year.  Robert  Lowndes,  Esq.,  formerly  of  Lea  Hall,  Cheshire,  and  of  Cliester- 
lield,  Derby,  but  late  of  Widcombe  Crescent,  Bath.  He  was  tbe  eldest  male  repre- 
sentative of  the  L<jwndes  ol  Overton  Hall,  from  whom  are  descended  the  Lowndes 
of  IJiiekingbamshire  and  O.xfordsbire." 

This  gentleman  was  undoidjtedly  Robert'  Lowndes.     (See  p.  46.) 

Note  No.  313. — "  Rol^ert  Lowndes  of  Rochdale,  attorncy-at-law,  was  appointed  by 
Lord  Byron  Steward  of  t!ie  Manor,  and  held  bis  first  cause  there,  2  May,  1723.  The 
old  Manorial  Rolls  fn  m  this  date  ceased  to  be  in  Latin,  and  the  entries  are  made  in 
books,  in  Eni^lisb.  Mr.  Lowndes  made  bis  last  cause  23d  May,  1747.  He  married 
at  Roebdale  Church,  liUh  June,  1726,  Rutb.  daughter  of  William  Greaves  of  Gart- 
sidc  Hall,  Gent.,  and  sister  of  William  Greaves,  Lf^q.,  Fellow  of  Clare  Hall,  and 
Commis.sary  of  tbe  University  of  Cambridge,  who  assumed  on  his  marriage  the  ad- 
ditional names  of  Beaupre-liell." 

*  "  Our  English  Surnames,"  by  Charles  Warcing  Bardsley,  M.A. 


APPENDIX. 


PART    I. 


ABSTRACTS  OF  DEEDS,  WILLS,  &c. 

(  1   ) 
Extracted  from  Congleton  Borough  Deeds  [p.  11]. 

Indenture  made  20"'  October  23.  Chai-les  P'  1G48.  between  Edmund 
Spencer  of  Longe  Eaton  in  the  County  of  Derby  Gent  of  the  one  Part, 
and  Richard  Loicndes  of  Bostock  House  in  the  County  of  Chester  Gentle- 
man of  the  other  Part,  Being  a  Feoffment  to  the  said  Richard  Lowndes  his 
heirs  &  assigns  for  ever  of  a  Messuage  and  Tenement  witli  the  appur- 
tenances commonly  called  the  Kings  Head  situated  in  Hegle  Street  in 
Congleton  in  the  said  County  of  Chester  together  with  a  moss  room  upon 
Mossley  Moss  in  Congleton  aforesaid  &  two  sittings  iu  Congleton  Chapell. 

Indenture  made  13.  Oef.  IGoT.  between  John  Lowndes  of  Middlewich  of 
the  one  part  and  William  Welde  of  Newbold  Astbury  Gent  and  John 
Welde  of  London  Gent  of  the  other  part  being  a  feoffment  to  the  said  John 
'&,  William  Welde  &  their  Heirs  of  the  above  premises  upon  trust  to  the  use 
of  the  said  John  Lowndes  during  his  natural  life  Remainder  to  John 
Lowndes  second  son  of  the  said  John  Lowndes  &  his  heirs,  Remainder  to 
Christopher  Lowndes  third  son  of  the  s'^.  John  Lowndes  &  his  heirs  re- 
mainder to  Edward  Lowndes  the  fourth  son  &  his  heirs  &  remainder  to  the 
right  heirs  of  John  Lowndes. 

Indent.  29  &  30  May  36  Cha'.  IL  Release  from  John  Lowndes  of 
Clerkenwell  gent.  William  Welde  and  John  Welde  &  Rich'^  Lowndes  of 
Bostock  house  to  W"  Dean  of  Congleton,  of  the  above  premises. 

(   2   ) 
Will  of  Frances'"  Lowndes,  of  Covent  Garden  [p.  11]. 

In  the  Name  of  God  Amen  I  ffrances  Lowndes  of  the  Parish  of  S'.  Paul 
Covent  Garden  in  the  County  of  Midd''  Spinster  being  infirme  of  body  but 
of  good  and  perfect  memory  all  praise  be  therefore  given  unto  Allmighty 
God  and  calling  to  mind  the  fraile  and  uncertaine  Condicon  of  this  Transi- 
tory Life  doe  make  and  ordaine  this  my  Last  Will  and  Testament  in  man- 


56 

ner  and  forme  following  (that  is  to  say)  first  and  principally  I  commend  my 
Soule  into  the  hands  of  Allmighty  God  my  Creator  trusting  and  assui'edly 
hopeing  through  the  merritts  and  mediacon  of  my  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  to  inheritt  Eternall  life  my  body  I  committ  to  the  Earth 
whence  tvvas  extracted  to  bee  decently  buried  in  Christian  Buriall  at  the 
discretion  of  my  Executors  hereinafter  named  in  sure  and  certaine  Expecta- 
tion of  A  Joyfull  Resurrection  at  the  Last  day  And  in  respect  of  my  worldly 
Estate  wherewith  it  hath  pleased  Allmighty  God  to  bless  mee  I  order  and 
dispose  of  the  same  as  followeth  (viz*)  Impris  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my 
brother  in  Law  John  Walker  A  debt  of  Twenty  pounds  which  is  due  and 
oweing  to  mee  upon  bond  from  my  brother  Richard  Lowndes  Gent  and 
the  said  bond  and  all  Interest  and  other  profitts  due  and  accruing  due  there- 
upon In  Trust  neverthelesse  to  and  for  the  only  projjer  use  and  behoofe  of 
my  Neice  ffrances  Binet  daughter  of  my  brother  in  Law  Robert  Binet  the 
summe  of  Twenty  pounds  sterl'  to  bee  paid  to  or  taken  by  the  said  Robert 
Binet  in  trust  for  his  said  daughter  untill  shee  shall  have  attained  to  her 
Age  of  one  and  Twenty  yeares  or  day  of  Marriage  (which  shall  tii'st  happen) 
Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  ray  Nephew  Charles  Lowndes  sonn  of  my 
brother  Charles  Lowndes  the  summe  of  Tenne  pounds  sterl.  to  bee  paid  to 
or  taken  by  my  said  brother  Charles  Lowndes  in  trust  for  his  said  sonn 
vntill  hee  shall  have  attained  to  his  Age  of  one  and  Twenty  yeares.  Item 
I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  Mother  Jane  Lowndes  and  to  my  Sister 
Elianor  Binet  and  to  my  Sister  in  Law  Sarah  Lowndes  wife  of  my  said 
brother  Charles  Lowndes  and  to  my  brother  in  Law  John  Walker  and  my 
sister  Awdi'ey  his  wife  and  to  my  sister  Mary  Savill  and  to  M'"'*  Simpson 
and  to  M"  Price  and  to  Madam  Elizabeth  Brereton  and  to  my  Cozen  Anne 
Whittingham  a  Ring  of  Tenn  Shillings  price  a  peece  Item  I  give  and  be- 
queath unto  M"".  Sebastian  Jason  Two  Guines  to  buy  him  A  Ring  Item  I 
give  and  bequeath  unto  the  Lady  Harriett  Churchill  and  to  the  Lady  Ann 
Churchill  a  ring  of  live  shillings  price  a  peece  The  rest  and  residue  of  all 
and  singular  my  estate  ready  money  plate  goods  and  Chattells  whatsoever 
(my  debts  Legacies  and  funerall  expences  being  thereout  first  defaulked 
paid  and  discharged)  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  said  brother 'Charles 
Lowndes  and  my  said  brother  in  Law  Robert  Binet  equally  to  bee  divided 
betweene  them  part  and  shai-e  like  whome  I  doe  hereby  make  and  a|)point 
joynt  Executors  of  this  my  Last  AVill  and  Testament  And  I  doe  hereby 
annihilate  I'enounce  and  make  void  all  former  Wills  and  Testaments  by  mee 
made  declareing  this  present  Testament  to  bee  my  true  and  last  Will  In 
Wittnesse  whereof  I  have  hereunto  sett  my  hand  and  scale  the  Seaven  and 
Twentieth  day  of  March  Anno  Dno  KJDO  And  in  the  second  yeare  of  the 
Reigne  of  their  Maj""  King  William  and  (^neene  IMary  &c. 

Fkancks  Lowndes. 
Seald   Subscribed   published  and  declared  by  the   Testatrix 
ffrances  Lowndes  as  and  for  her  last  Will  and  Testament 
in   the  p'sence    of   us    who    have   hereunto   Attested   the 
same  as  Wittnesses  thereto  in  her  presence. 

W'illiam  Ellis    William  Hues     Rol/.  Hodson. 

Probatum  apud  London  fuit  liumoi  Testum  Coram  venli  viro  Diio  Thoraa 
Pinfold  mite  Legum  dcore  Surro  veiilis  et  egregii  viri  Dili  Richi  Raines 
Militis  Legum  etiam  dcoris  Curiae  Prasrojrat  Cantuar  Maixri   Custodis  sive 


57 

Comq  Itime  constituti  Viulecimo  die  mensis  Aprilis  Anno  Dni  Millimo 
Sexcenino  Nonagemo  Jiirani  Caroli  Lowndes  et  Robti  Binett  ExiQin  in 
dco  Testam'"  noininat  Quibus  comissa  fuit  Adraico  omniu  et  singuloru 
lionoru  juriu  et  cred  diet  deft  de  bene  et  fidelr  Admistraudo  eadein  ad 
Sancta  Dei  li^vangelia  Jurat.     Exam^ 

Prerog.  Court  of  Cant-^'.  Doctors  Commons. 
Dyke  60. 

Note. — The  name  of  Frances  Lowndes  does  not  occur  in  any  of  the 
Registers  of  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden.  Slie  could  not  therefore  have  been 
long  a  resident  of  that  parish.  She  probably  came  to  London  a  short  time 
l)efore  her  death,  took  apartments  in  Covent  Garden,  at  that  time  the 
fashionable  quarter  of  the  town,  and  was  taken  ill  soon  after. 


(  3   ) 
Will  of  Jane  Lowndes,  of  Checkley,  AVidow. 

In  the  name  of  God  amen  the  fifteenth  day  of  July  and  in  the  yeare  of 
our  Lord  Gud  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninetye  I  Jane  Lowndes  of 
Checkley  in  the  County  of  Chester  widdow  being  by  divers  infirmities  put 
in  mind  of  my  mortalitye  knowinge  that  death  is  certaine  but  the  hour 
thereof  most  uncertaine  doe  in  perfect  memory  make  this  my  last  will  and 
Testament  in  writinge  in  manner  and  forme  followinge  And  first  I  Com- 
niiMid  my  soule  into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  God  iny  Creator  hopeinge 
and  faithfully  beleivinge  that  all  my  sins  are  purged  and  done  away  in  and 
throughe  the  blood  of  my  blessed  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  And  that  I  shall 
ai-ise  againe  an  incorruptable  body  to  Raigiie  with  him  in  his  blessed  King- 
dome  for  ever  And  my  body  I  commend  to  the  earth  to  bee  decently 
buried  by  my  Ex'ors  hereafter  named  And  for  those  worldly  goods  wdiere- 
wltli  God  hath  blessed  niee  I  do  hereby  dispose  of  the  same  in  manner  and 
forme  following  And  first  my  will  and  pleasure  is  and  I  doe  hereby  give 
ami  bequeath  unto  my  grandchild  JoJin  Walker  the  clerke  44  yerds  of  new 
flaxen  cloth  one  dozen  of  new  napkins  Ah  yards  of  new  towells  the  broad 
])iece  of  gold  and  four  gold  rings  And  if  it  shall  happen  that  my  said 
graodchild  shall  die  and  depart  this  life  before  he  come  to  the  age  of  21 
years  Then  my  will  and  pleasure  is  that  my  grandchild  William  Walker 
shall  have  all  the  gifts  and  becpu^sts  t!iat  are  now  given  to  his  brother  John 
Walker.  Also  I  doe  hereby  give  and  beipieath  unto  my  daughter  M<iry 
jS'ivile  one  shilling  Also  I  doe  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  daughter  J^lleu 
Bcnneft  2  6.  Also  I  doe  hereb)^  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  son  Richard 
Lowndes  one  pound  Also  unto  my  son  Charles  Loivndes  216.  Also  I 
give  and  bequeath  unto  Margaret  Cocke  one  fianell  peticote,  one  sagg  peti- 
cote  and  all  my  shoos.  Also  I  doe  hereby  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  sister 
Anne  Welde  my  last  Holland  Sliowes.  Also  I  doe  hereby  give  and 
bequeath  all  the  rest  and  the  remainder  of  my  apparill  unto  my  daughter 
Awdry  Walker.  And  my  will  and  pleasure  is  and  I  doe  hereby  oider 
appoynte  and  Alott  the  sume  of  £20  for  my  funerall  charge  and  expences. 
And  lastly  1  dcjc  hereby  give  and  bequeath  all  the  rest  and  remainder  of  all 
my  goods  to  my  grandchild  John  Walker  if  he  shall  attain  to  the  years  of 
21  ami  if  not  then  to  his  brother  AVilliam  Walker.  And  I  doe  hereby 
constitute  ordaine  and  make   my  Loveing  brother  JNP   William  Welde  of 


58 

Little  Hassall  my  sole  executor  to  see  this  my  last  will  and  Testament 
executed  and  performed  accoidiug  to  the  tiust  1  repose  in  him.  And  I  doe 
hereby  adnull  and  revoke  all  former  and  other  will  or  wills  by  me  heretofore 
made  and  doe  pronounce  this  my  last  will  and  Testament  And  in  witnesse 
hereof  1  have  hereunto  put  my  hand  and  seale  the  day  and  yeare  first  above 
written.  Jane  Lowndes. 

Mary  Welde  1 

Anne  Welde  ttt-^ 

T\i        -i\7i  •.♦•     1  r    Witnesses. 

JMary  Whittingham  j 

y"  marke  of  John  Johnson        J 

proved  12  May  1  GO  1. 

A  true  and  perfect  Inventory  of  all  and  singuler  the  goods  and  Creditts 
of  M"  Jane  Lowndes  deceased  Taken  and  appraised  by  Jolm  Walker  sen- 
ior and  John  W^dker  junior  at  Checkley  the  b"'  of  Maich  Annoq  dni  16'JU. 

Imprmis  the  Clocke 

Item  44  yards  of  new  flaxen  cloth 

Item  one  dozen  of  napkins 

Item  4  yards  and  ^  of  new  Toweling 

Item  4  gold  rings  and  one  broad 

piece  of  gold 
Item  moneys  in  her  purse 
Item  moneys  oweinge  her 
Item  Desperate  Debts 
Item  more  moneys  oweing 
Item  her  weareing  clothes  and  Linneu 
Item  her  Eookes 
Item  some  Boxes  and  small  thinges 

forgott 

In  witness  &c.  70     05      10 

John  Walker 
John  Walker  Exhibited,  12  May  1G91 


(   4   ) 
Will  of  William  AVeld  of  Hassall,  1G99. 

In  the  name  of  God  Amen.  I  William  Weld  of  Little  Hassall  in  the 
parish  of  Sandhach  in  the  County  of  Chester  gentleman  doe  make  this  my 
last  Will  and  Testament  this  Twelfth  day  of  September  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  One  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety  nine  And  first  I  doe  hereby 
give  and  devise  unto  my  loveing  wife  Mary  AVeld  and  her  assigns  all  my 
Messuages  lands  teneiu''*  hereditaments  tithes  and  leasehold  lands  with  their 
and  every  of  their  appurtefices  lying  &  being  in  Hassall  JSevvbold  Ast- 
bury  and  Congleton  in  the  said  County  of  Chester  or  any  of  them  for  and 
dureing  her  naturall  life  if  she  keep  herselfe  sole  and  unmarried  I  likewise 
give  and  bequeath  unto  her  all  my  personall  estate  goods  and  Chattells 
whatsoever  And  from  and  after  the  death  of  tlie  said  Mary  mj'  wife  I 
hereby  give  and  bequeath  all  my  said  Messuages  lands  tenem''  and  lieredi- 


£ 

s. 

d. 

02 

10 

00 

02 

10 

00 

00 

12 

00 

00 

04 

OG 

02 

10 

00 

11 

18 

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22 

10 

00 

15 

00 

00 

01 

IG 

04 

10 

00 

00 

00 

10 

00 

00 

02 

00 

59 

tarn'"  whorein  I  have  any  Estate  of  Inlieritance  in  possession  reversion  or 
remainder  to  Richard  Lowndes  the  younger  of  Ilassall  aforesaid  son  and 
heir  of  Richard  Lowndes  my  Nephew  And  I  doe  hereby  further  give  and 
devise  unto  my  sister  Ann  Weld  my  Nephew  M'^  Tliomas  Wliittingliani 
Kector  of  Brereton  my  Nephew  AVilliam  Whittingliam  my  niece  Ana 
Whittingham  Elizabeth  Wliittingham  daughter  to  William  Whittingliam 
to  my  Nephew  Charles  Lowndes  the  elder  to  his  brother  William  Lowndes 
my  Godson  to  my  Godson  William  Walker  to  John  Lowndes  brother  of 
the  said  Richard  Lowndes  and  to  Richard  Lowndes  the  ehler  father  of  the 
said  Richard  Lowndes  the  young"'  the  severall  yearly  suiiies  herein  after 
mentioned  to  be  issuing  and  goeing  out  of  all  my  said  Messuages  lands  and 
premises  and  payable  to  them  respectively  for  and  during  their  respective 
natural  lives  at  two  dayes  of  payment  that  is  to  say  upon  the  nine  and 
twentieth  day  of  September  and  the  five  and  twentieth  day  of  March  yearly 
by  eqnall  portions  the  first  payment  to  be  made  at  such  of  the  said  dayes 
as  shall  first  happen  next  after  the  death  of  my  said  wife  which  said  yearly 
sumes  are  these  herein  after  following  that  is  to  say  to  my  said  sister  Anu 
Weld  ten  pounds  to  the  said  Thomas  Whittingliam  Rector  of  Brereton  ten 
pounds  to  uiy  said  nephew  William  Whittingliam  five  pounds  to  my  said 
niece  Ann  Whittingliam  five  pounds  if  she  doe  not  marry  dohii  Swaine  To 
the  said  Elizabeth  Whittingliam  daughter  to  William  Wliittingham  five 
pounds  to  the  said  Charles  Lowndes  the  elder  five  pounds  to  the  said  Wil- 
liam Lowndes  my  godson  five  pounds  to  the  said  William  Walker  my  god- 
son five  pounds  to  the  said  John  Lowndes  five  pounds  to  the  said  Richard 
Lowndes  the  elder  father  of  the  said  Richard  Lowndes  the  younger  five 
pounds  all  which  said  several  yearly  summs  I  give  unto  them  severally 
and  respectively  with  power  to  distrayne  for  nonpayment  as  in  case  of  a 
I'ent  charge.  I  hereby  further  give  and  bequeath  to  every  servant  of  mine 
that  shall  be  with  me  at  the  time  of  my  death  forty  shillings  apiece  and  to 
the  poore  of  the  parish  of  Sandbach  twenty  pounds  to  be  equally  distributed 
amongst  them  And  I  doe  hereby  constitute  and  appoint  my  said  loveing 
wife  Executrix  and  the  said  Richard  Lowndes  Executor  of  this  my  last 
Will  and  Testament  In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  sett  my  hand  and 
seal  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 


{-} 


Will      k  l.  s.  >•      Weld 


Signed  sealed  and  published  in  the  presence  of 
G  Booth 
Mary  Booth 
I'eter  Brittain 


60 


PART      II 


DOCUMENTS 

Relating  to  Smith  Carolina,  with  Letters  from   Thomas  Lotvndes  and  others, 
Jiled  among  the  Colonial  Papers,  Record  Office,  London. 

(    1    ) 
[Endorsement.] — Grant  to  M''  Tho:  Lowndes  of  12000  Acres  of  land 
in  8"'  Carolina  dated  y*'  25"'  Oct.  172G. 

To  all  to  whom  these  ^Jresents  shall  come: 

His  Excellency  John  Lord  Carteret,  Palatine ;  the  most  Noble  Henry- 
Duke  of  Beaufort,  y*^  Riglit  Hou'''^  William  Lord  Craven,  y*'  IIon^'«  James 
Bertie  &  Henry  Bertie  his  brother,  Sir  John  Colleton  Bar'  &  Sir  John 
Tyrrell  Bar',  being  seven  of  the  eight  true  and  absolute  Lords  Proprietors 
of  Carolina,  send  greeting.  Whereas  Tho:  Lotvndes  hath  surrendered  to 
us,  our  heirs  &  Assigns  a  Grant  for  four  Baronies  in  our  Province  of 
Carolina ;  containing  in  the  whole  Forty-eight  Thousand  Acres  of  Land, 
together  with  the  Title,  Dignity  &  Honour  of  a  Landgrave,  w'^''  was 
heretofore  granted  to  John  Price  Gent :  \\\  consideration  whereof  we  do 
Consent  &  Agree  to  grant  to  the  said  Tho:  Lcnvndes  one  Tract  or  Barony 
of  Land  to  contain  Twelve  Thousand  Acres  of  Land.  One  other  such  like 
Tract  or  Barony  of  Land  to  Lsaac  Lotvndes;  one  other  such  like  Tract 
or  Barony  of  Land  to  Cha^  Edtvards  Gent:  &  one  other  such  like  Tract 
or  Barony  of  Land  to  John  Beresford  Gent:  all  which  four  Baronies  are 
to  contain  in  the  whole  Forty-eight  Thousand  Acres  of  Land,  to  the 
end  and  intent  that  he  &  they,  &  his  &  their  Heirs  &  Assigns  may  hold  & 
enjoy  the  same  (according  to  their  several  &  respective  Grants)  together 
with  all  such  J^iberties,  Benefits,  Immunities,  Priviledges  &  Advantages 
whatsoever  as  we  have  power  to  grant  by  Virtue  of  the  Letters  Patents 
(Tranted  to  our  Ancestors  or  Predecessors.  Now  these  Presents  Witness, 
That  We,  the  said  Lords  Proprietors,  in  Consideration  of  the  Premises,  Have 
given  &  gi-anted  &  by  these  Presents  do  Give  &  Grant  unto  the  said  Tho: 
Lowndes,  his  heirs  &  Assigns  one  Barony  or  Tract  of  Land  to  contain 
Twelve  Thousand  Acres  of  Land,  together  with  all  the  Wood,  Tinihei-, 
Poyalties  &  Advantages  to  be  had,  found,  received  &  taken  thereby,  &  all 
our  Estate,  Liheritance,  Use,  Possession,  Claim  &  Demand  of  Us  the  s** 
Lords  Proprietors,  of,  in,  to  or  out  of  the  same  Premises  hereliy  given  & 
granted  with  tlieir  Appurtenances,  luito  the  said  Tho:  Lowndes,  his  Heirs 
&  Assigns,  unto  the  only  use  of  y''  s**  Tho:  Lowndes,  his  Heirs  &  Assigns 
for  ever,  Yielding  &  Paying  to  the  s''  Lords  Propiietors,  their  Heirs  & 
Assigns  for  ever  the  Summ  of  One  Penny  Steiling  Yearly  at  the  Royal 
Exchange  of  London  on  the  feast  of  k"'t.  JNlichael  the  Archangel  for  ever. 

Provided  nevertheless  that  in  case  tiiis  present  Grant  shall  not  be  duly 
inrolled  within  the  space  of  Two  Years  after  the  Date  hereof  in  one  of  his 
]\Iajesty's  Courts  of  Record  at  Westminster,  or  in  the  othce  of  the  proper 
liegi^ter.  Secretary,  or  in  the  Lirollment  OtHce  of  the  said  Province;  Then 
tliis  present  grant  shall   be  void  &  of  none  effect.     And  the  said   Loids 


Gl 

Proprietors  do  hereby  aiitliorize  and  require  tliat  the  Surveyor  Gen'  of  the 
Province  of  South  Carolina  immediately,  within  20  days  after  notice  given 
liim  of  this  present  Grant,  do  allot  &  set  out  the  said  Tract  or  Barony  of 
Land  in  any  Place  within  the  said  Province  of  South  Carolina.  Giveu 
under  our  Hands  &  Seal  this  2.j"'  day  of  October  172G. 

Signed, 
Entered  G'"  Dcc^  1720  Carteret  P. 

by  Ri.  Shelton,  Sec'^  liEAUFORT. 

Cravex. 
Conruit  pr  infra  noiat  Ja  :  Bertie. 

Henricnm  Bertie  Hex:    Beutie. 

(')  die  Feltruarii  .loiix  Tvrrell. 

172G  in  Cur'  J.  Colletox. 

Slgn'd 

Alex.  Denton.  (l.  s.) 


(    2   ) 

[ExnORSEMEXT.] — L'' from  ]\PTlio:  Lowndes  toy''  Sec*'' dated  y*  IG"' 
of  Feb''^'.  172|  relating  to  his  Services  in  promoting  the  Purchase  of  Carolina 
by  the  Crown  from  the  L'^*  Proprietors. 

Rec'^'i  IG  Fel/>'  172| 

Read  July  IG,  1729 

Sir, 

Hearing  that  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  are  teazed  by 
Pretenders  to  Merit  in  bringing  about  the  ])urchase  of  Carolina,  I  take  the 
liberty  to  transmit  to  you  a  Copy  of  the  Reasons  which  last  year  I  drew 
and  which  were  presented  to  and  approved  of  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  and  Sixteen  other  Members,  when  the  Demand  was  made  for 
the  Purchase  Money  in  Parliament. 

The  Proposal  of  attacking  Fort  Augustino  and  obstructing  from  Port 
Royal  in  South  Carolina  the  Spanish  Navigation  was  first  made  by  me  to  a 
Person  of  great  figure  in  the  Administration  in  May  next  will  be  three 
yeai's  and  was  then  liked.  What  service  I  have  since  done  in  obviating  any 
difficulty  that  might  happen,  and  in  removing  obstructions  that  arose  whilst 
the  Bargain  for  Carolina  was  negociating  a  noble  Lord  of  your  Board 
(whose  Justice  and  Honour  are  equal  to  his  Title)  will  I  doubt  not  readily 
vouch  for  me.  And  I  have  ample  Testimony  of  the  Pains  I  have  since 
taken  to  keep  Matters  between  the  Crown  and  the  Proprietors  from  being 
inflamed. 

Colonel  Lilly  was  too  candid  a  Gentleman  not  to  own  publickly  the 
assistance  I  gave  him  in  drawing  his  Map  of  Carolina;  I  having  the  most 
Authentic  manuscript  Map  of  that  Country  and  of  Port  Royal  in  particu- 
lar. For  as  for  poor  Governour  Rogers,  his  is  only  an  unnatural  Fiction, 
for  there  can  be  no  such  place  as  he  represents  Port  Royal  to  be  till  the 
nature  of  water  is  altered  and  the  Globe  new  moulded. 

I  likewise  enclose  a  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  Governour  Craven  which  I 
doubt  not  will  give  the  Lords  of  Trade  satisfaction,  he  being  a  Gent  of 
known  honour,  and  I  had  a  Liberty  to  do  with  it  as  1  judged  proper. 

1  beg  leave  to  observe  to  you  that  it   is  my  humble  Opinion  that  the 


62 

Spaniards  make  their  clamorous  Mem"'  about  tlie  little  Foi't  upon  Allata- 
nialia  River,  to  conceal  their  Intentions  of  getting  from  us  by  Treaty  the 
Territory  we  have  upon  the  Gulf  of  ]Mexico.  For  the  Bay  of  Apalachia 
is  most  certainly  ours.  And  it  is  highly  probable  there  is  a  good  Harbour, 
either  at  the  Entrance  of  the  River  de  Guisare,  or  the  River  Flint.  And 
the  country  is  esteemed  very  fertile  and  the  Indians  that  did  inhabit  it  are 
either  chased  away  or  killed.  Of  what  use  it  may  be  to  the  Spanisli  nation 
to  have  such  a  Concession  or  of  what  prejudice  to  us  to  grant  it,  the  Lords 
Commissioners  for  Trade  are  the  best  judges.         I  am         Sir 

, /,  t:,  ,     i-.tr  Your  Most  obedient  and 

IG  Feb.  l/2f  *  1       n    c-  ^ 

"  most  humble  Seivant 

p.  s.  Tno:  Lowndes. 

There  is  I  hear  a  great  disposition  in  the  richer  Palatins  and  Germans 
about  Leige  to  go  to  South  Carolina ;  So  a  good  Revenue  may  be  made 
immediately  to  the  King  by  Quitt  Rent. 

\^jEncIosnre.'\ 
[Endorsement.]  —  Copy  of  a  L^'from  M"^  Craven  formerly  Governor  of 
Carolina  to  M"' Tlio.  Lowndes  dated  y*^  4"^  of  May    172(i,   in   relation   to 
the  harbour  of  Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina  &  Timber  &  other  Products 
Ht  that  Place. 

Re''"^  from  M''  Lowndes  with  his  Letter  a  Copy  IG.  Feb^  1728-9. 
Rec'i  IG  Feby  1728-9. 
Read 

Sir, 

Having  received  yours  dated  April    1  G"'  172G  in  relation  to  Port 
Royal  in  Soutli  Carolina  1  can  only  give  this  Account. 

There  is  water  enough  for  any  Ships  to  come  over  the  Barr.  I  had  it 
sounded  when  I  was  Governour,  but  through  the  Carelessness  of  my  Servant 
my  Papers  are  lost. 

It  is  my  Opinion  it  may  be  very  easily  fortified  at  a  small  expense  to  se- 
cure the  Trade  from  any  Damage  from  Enemys. 

As  to  the  Timber  near  Port  Royal  it  is  as  good  as  in  any  part  of  the 
Continent. 

There  are  several  Sorts  of  Oak  for  Building,  Pine  for  Masts  of  Ships 
and  the  Land  very  fertile  and  proper  for  Flax  and  Hemp  or  any  other 
Grain  or  Product  and  great  plenty  of  good  Cattle  &  Fish. 

lam&c.  May  4"^  1726. 

Cha  :  Craven. 

Mem**.  Lowndes  had  a  Liberty  to  use  M""  Craven's  Letter  as  he  should 
think  proper. 

(  3   ) 

|"Em>oksement.] — Letter  from  INP  Tho:  Lowndes  to  the  Sec^  dated  2.3'''* 
Dec"  1729,  signifying  the  names  of  the  Patent  Otficers  in  South  Carolina.- 
Rec'^24'*'  Dec^      1729) 
Read  March  13'^  H^-S  ]" 

The  OtTicers  of  Carolina  that  are  within  the  intention  of  the  saving 
Clause  of  the  Act  for  Purchasing  Carolina  are  Edward  Bertie  Esq.  Secre- 


G3 

t;in'  aiirl  Rejjlster  for  Two  Lives,  myself  for  Two   Lives,  Provost  Marshall 
Clerk  of  the  Peace  and  Crown. 

i\P  Robert  Wriglit  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  for  Life  l^nt  he,  havin<r 
never  been  possessed  of  his  Patent  and  some  of  the  Ministers  urging  of 
what  ill  consecpience  it  might  be  to  have  that  Officer  for  Life,  Twas  agreed 
tiiat  notwithstanding  tiie  saving  Clause  that  Patent  should  l)e  delivered  up 
to  the  Lord  Commis™  for  Trade  to  be  cancelled  and  that  it  should  be  an 
Article  in  the  Governour's  Instructions  to  appoint  Mr.  Wright  his  Majesties 
Chief  Justice  of  South  Carolina  during  his  Majesties  Pleasuie  only.  I 
know  ]\P  Wright's  Patent  is  ready  to  be  delivereil  to  the  Lords  of  Trade 
any  day.  I  am,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most 

humble  servant 

23  Dec""  1729.  Tiio  :  Lowndes. 


(  4  ) 
[ExDOKSKMEXT.] — Soiith  Carolina.     Letter  from  M''  Tho' :  Lowndes  of 
y«  24""  of  ^March  1730  relating  to  a  Clause  in  an  Act  of  South  Carolina 
for  y^  better  settling  of  y*  Courts  of  Justice  in  that  Province. 

f,-;J}Ma,cI>20.1731. 

Sir, 

'Tis  with  the  greatest  Confusion,  that  I  beg  pardon  of  the  Lords  Com- 
missioners for  Trade,  for  giving  their  Lordships  this  farther  Trouble,  which 
really  is  occasioned  by  an  Innocent  Mistake,  and  I  intreat  you,  at  a  proper 
time  to  move  their  Lordships  to  give  Directions  (in  relation  to  the  Clause 
requiring  Security  of  the  Provost  Marshall)  agreeable  to  their  Intentions 
which  this  day  they  were  so  good  as  to  express.  For  I  never  had  an  op- 
])ortunity  to  peruse  the  act  of  assembly  till  to-day,  after  I  was  called  for  in, 
and  oidy  hearing  it  read  over  before  at  JNP  Counsellour  Fanes  Chamber,  I 
took  it  that  the  Deputy  Provost  Marshall  was  required  to  give  the  Security, 
and  accordingly  had  made  2?rovision  for  it,  but  their  Lordships  Candour  and 
Goodness  make  me  sensible  of  my  Misapprehension. 

The  Complaint  of  the  Merchants  and  the  Point  in  Issue  before  M''  Fane 
was  whether  the  summons  should  be  restored  or  the  Capias  continued,  not 
but  that  Gent  asked  if  there  was  any  other  objection  to  any  part  else  of  the 
Act,  and  the  Merchants  answered  "  Nothing  material." 

In  all  the  Plantations  tliat  are  Royal  Governm"  these  are,  (as  I  am  in- 
formed) standing  Laws,  that  no  Deputy  shaU  be  admitted  to  execute  his 
Office  till  he  has  given  such  security  as  is  agreeable  to  the  Nature  of  his 
Ollice  and  as  is  specified  in  such  laws;  and  tlie  Notion  of  that  and  my  only 
hearing  the  Act  very  hastilj'  run  over  was  what  lead  me  into  the  Error  and 
is  the  Cause  of  this  Application.     1  am  with  thu  greatest  respect 

Sir 

Your  most  obed' 

24  March  and  most  humble 

173U  Servant 

Tiio  :  Lowndes. 
To  Allured  Popple  Esq 
Secretary  to  the  Lords  Commissioners 
for  Trade  and  Plantations. 


64 

(  5  ) 
Plantations  General.     Patents.     Vol.  52.     Page  91. 
Tho:  Lowndes  Provost 
Marsliall  in  South 

Carolina  GEORGE  R. 

1730 
Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is  that  you  prepare  a  hill  for  our  Royal  Signature 
to  pass  our  Great  Seal  of  Great  Britain  containing  our  Grant  unto  our 
Trusty  and  Wellheloved  Thomas  Lowndes  Esq'  &  his  Assigns  of  the  Offices 
or  Places  of  Provost  Marshall  Clerk  of  the  Peace  and  Clerk  of  the  Crown 
of  and  in  our  Province  of  South  Carolina  in  America  during  the  natural 
lives  of  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes  and  Hugh  Watson  of  the  Middle  Tem- 
ple Gent :  He  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes  having  surrendered  unto  Us  a 
grant  of  the  said  Offices  for  the  lives  of  him  and  the  said  Hugh  Watson 
under  the  seal  of  the  late  Lords  Proprietors  :  To  have,  hold  and  enjoy 
the  said  offices  unto  him  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes  and  his  assigns  for  and 
during  his  own  Life  and  the  Life  of  the  said  Hugh  Watson  and  the  Survi- 
vor o\  them  to  be  executed  by  him  the  said  Thomas  Lowndes  or  his  assigns 
or  their  sufficient  Deputy  or  Deputies ;  together  with  all  their  Salaries, 
Fees,  Perquisites,  Profits,  Advantages  and  Privileges  whatsoever  to  the 
said  Offices  belonging,  in  a  full  and  ample  manner  to  all  Lrtents  and  Pur- 
poses as  any  Person  or  Persons  have  heretofore  held  and  enjoy 'd  or  of  Right 
ought  to  have  held  and  enjoy'd  the  same  and  you  are  to  insert  in  the  said 
]>ill  all  such  clauses  as  are  usual,  and  as  you  shall  judge  a  Requisite  in  this 
Behalf.     And  for  so  doing  this  shall  be  your  Warrant. 

Given  at  our  Court  at  St.  James's  the  Thirtieth  day  of  November  1730 
in  the  Fourth  year  of  our  Reign. 

By  His  Majesty's  Command 

HoLLEs  Newcastle. 
To  our  Attorney    ) 
or  Sollicitor  General  ) 


(  c  ) 

[Endorsement.]— L''  from  M"".  T.  Lowndes  inclosing  the  Extract  of  a 
L''  to  him  from  M"'  Wright,  Chief  Justice  of  South  Carolina  dated  y^  G"'  of 
August  1731  about  repealing  y^  Act  passed  there  for  bringing  Debtors  into 
Court  by  Capias  and  thereby  reviving  y''  Act  for  a  Sumons  in  lieu  thereof. 
Reed.  Oct.  2G  :  >  ,-g. 
Read  Nov.  10:)  ^'"^ 
Sir, 

I  take  the  liberty  to  inclose  two  Paragraphs  of  M""  Wright's  Letter  to 
me  dated  0"*  August  1731  from  South  Carolina,  where  you  know  he  is  his 
Majesties  Chief  Justice  ;  You'll  please  to  communicate  the  same  to  the 
Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations.  And  I  beg  you'll  observe 
to  their  Lordships  that  by  Act  of  Assembly  a  Sallary  is  settled  on  the  Chief 
Justice,  which  with  the  old  Sallary  out  of  the  Qiiitt  Rents  will  make  £200 
per  An'".  And  I  suppose  long  before  this  they  have  passed  the  Jury-Bill, 
because  they  had  it  under  consideration  in  the  middle  of  last  April ;  so  that 
the  Capias  Act  so  prejudicial    to  Trade  and  so  obstructive  to  Common  Jus- 


65 

tice  may  (if  their  Lordships  think  proper)  be  repealed  without  any  sort  of 
Incouveuiency  in  any  other  respect. 
1  am 

Sir 
2G  October  1731  Your  most  obed'  and 

Most  humble  Servant 

TllOS  :  LOAVXDES. 

Secret^'  to  the  Board  of  Trade 


(   ■   ) 
[P'xDORSEArEXT.] — Letter  from   jNIr.   The:  Lowndes  in   relation    to   the 
Capias  and  Summons  Process  in  South  Carolina. 

My  Lords 

In  order  to  set  the  Capias  and  Summons  Process  in  South  Carolina 
in  a  clear  light,  I  beg  leave  humbly  to  observe  to  your  Lord''*  that  in  all 
parts  of  America  (Islands  as  well  as  others)  the  Capias  was  the  ori<>inal 
Process.  But  in  such  places  as  the  Climate  or  Product  required  many 
T^'egroes,  whenever  there  came  to  be  a  great  disproportion  of  Slaves  to 
White  People,  then  the  summons  was  found  necessary  to  be  introduced,  to 
aid  the  Capias.  For  near  the  first  forty  years  in  South  Carolina  the  Pro- 
cess was  by  Capias  only,  nor  would  any  other  be  now  required  was  the 
Pi-ovince  in  the  same  Condition  it  was  then.  But  about  the  year  1713 
when  the  number  of  Negroes  was  increased  they  instituted  the  Summons 
Act  (I  believe)  for  two  Years  at  first  and  afterwards  it  was  made  Jndeffi- 
uite.  In  the  year  1720  it  being  thought  too  severe  as  to  the  Double  mil- 
age and  Doidjle  Process,  it  was  remedied  by  an  Act  of  Assembly  which  was 
also  Indethnite.  About  the  year  172G  after  the  Merchants  had  given  the 
Planters  very  large  Credit,  the  Planters  in  a  very  tumultuous  manner  got 
(by.  Act  of  Assembly)  the  Summons  superseded,  and  the  Capias  introduced 
again.  And  here  I  beg  leave  to  hint  of  what  ill  consequence  it  may  be.  to 
have  an  Act  which  immediately  concerns  the  Property  of  the  Briti^h  Mer- 
chants repealed,  only  by  some  loose  general  Words  without  so  much  as  recit- 
ing the  Act,  which  is  the  Case  here  in  point  before  your  Lordships. 

I  entirely  agiee  with  M'  Johnson  as  to  the  Abuses  committed  by  the 
Provost  JNlarshalls  in  South  Carolina.  And  the  case  was  thus.  The  late 
Lords  Proprietors,  for  tiieir  Governour's  Emolument  always  permitted  them 
to  nominate  the  Provost  JMarshall,  wdio  was  accountable  to  the  Governours 
for  half  Proiits  and  sometimes  more,  and  for  this  Reason  the  Marshall  was 
generally  protected  in  all  his  unjustifiable  Practices.  But  now  the  Acting 
Provost  IVIarshall  is  to  give  Security  (as  is  highly  reasonable)  to  answer  for 
all  mal-Practices  ;  That  Officer  will  be  obliged  to  the  faithfull  Execution 
of  his  Office  in  South  Carolina  as  well  as  in  Jamaica  and  other  parts  of 
America.  For  had  the  Practices  of  the  Provost  Marshall  been  not  to 
be  remedied  after  thirteen  years  tryal  of  the  Summons  Act,  one  would  rea- 
sonably have  expected  to  liave  found  some  mention  at  least  of  such  ill 
behaviour  in  the  Act  of  172G  which  repeals  the  Summons.  And  iNP  John- 
son takes  no  notice  of  the  hazard  of  his  Life  that  the  Marshall  now  runs 
in  serving  tiie  Capias  out  of  Charles  Town,  the  frecpient  Rescues  from  the 
officer,  how  the  Negroes  are  let  loose  upon  him,  and  he  frecjuently  whiped 
or  drawn  through  a  Ditch,  and  all  Com{)laints  upon  this  head  are  to  no  pur- 


66 

pose;  for  legal  Proof  cannot  be  made  that  it  was  by  their  Master's 
order,  tho'  every  one  knows  it  could  not  be  done  without  it.  And  these 
Irregularities  which  cannot  otherwise  be  prevented  were  the  Cause  of  the 
Summons  both  in  South  CaroUna,  Jamaica,  Barbados  and  other  places 
where  the  Negroes  are  numerous. 

Your  Lordships  I  am  sure  will  observe  the  Proviso  in  the  Act  of  the 
year  1720  for  the  Amendm"'  of  the  law  whereby  thirty  days  is  allowed 
before  Execution  on  Judgm'  shall  be  granted,  if  the  Party  be  brought  into 
Court  by  Summons,  in  which  time  it  is  hardly  possible  but  he  must  be 
apprized  of  what  is  going  on  against  him,  unless  he  be  an  Indian  Trader, 
for  whom  I  some  time  ago  took  the  Liberty  to  propose  a  Remedy.  And 
if  the  Party  be  summoned  upon  an  account  not  to  be  maintained  he  has 
ample  Redress  against  his  Adversary  by  Law. 

1  most  humbly  offer  to  your  Lordships  Consideration,  his  Majesties  Let- 
ters Patent  to  me  for  the  Office  of  Provost  Marshall,  the  henetit  of  wliich 
I  am  entirely  deprived  of  by  the  present  Capias  Act,  and  (not  of  Mod- 
esty) I  ke|»t  from  comphiining  till  your  Lordships  had  heard  from  INP  John- 
son upon  tliat  head,  but  now  I  must  desire  your  Lordsliips  to  hear  and 
redress  my  Comphiint. 

The  last  part  of  M''  .Johnson's  Letter  is  very  fallacious.  For  of  what  use 
can  it  be  to  the  Merchants  that  they  may  try  the  causes  out  of  the  Precinct 
Courts  where  they  may  have  fair  Juries,  unless  they  can  bring  their  Debtors 
(the  Planters)  into  Court,  which  five  miles  out  of  Charles  Town  they  can- 
not do  ludess  the  Summons  be  restored  ? 

The  real  truth,  my  Lords,  is  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  Planters  being 
indebted  to  the  Merchants,  M""  Johnson  is  afraid  of  doing  anything  that 
may  disoblige  the  Planters,  especially  at  this  Juncture,  his  Appointment 
being  by  the  Country  only  granted  for  Oue  Year.  I  humbly  conjure  your 
Lor(Uhi[)s  to  hear  the  Act  for  the  Amendment  of  the  Law  read  and  then 
yoiu'  Lordships  will  be  convinced  that  nothing  is  desired  but  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  obtaining  Common  Justice.  I  am  with  the  great- 
est res[)ect 

My  Lords 

Your  Lordships 

14  Dec""  1831  Most  obedient  and 

Most  humble  Servant 

Thos:  Lowndes. 

P.  S.  If  the  Objection  that  the  Act  for  the  Amende^*  of  the  Law,  was 
passed  by  Gov''  More  be  allowed,  several  of  the  best  Acts  will  be  void  and 
great  confusion  ensue  in  the  Province. 


(  8  ) 
[ExDORSKMKXT.] — "Slem^   from   M''   Lowndes   against  an  Act  of  South 
Carolina  declaring  all  Process  to  be  voydthat  ivas  not  jjersoiially  served  upon 
the  Party  hy  the  Provost  Marshall  or  his  Deputy  ;  and  ab'  the  Want  of  Pio- 
vision  for  Indigent  Criminals. 

To  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Planta- 
tions. 

The  humble  Memorial  of  Thomas  Lowndes  Shewetli 


G7 

That  about  two  or  three  years  ago  there  passed  in  South  Carolina  an 
Act  declaring  all  Process  to  be  void,  that  was  not  personally  serve<l  upon  the 
Party,  by  the  Provost  Marshall  or  his  Deputy  which  act  makes  the  Execu- 
tion of  Common  justice  not  only  difficult  but  impracticable  ;  and  is  very 
prejudicial  to  the  Conimerce  of  Great  Britain.  For  no  Merchant  will  now 
furnish  any  Commoditys  to  a  Planter  that  lives  at  any  distance  from  Charles 
Town  because  he  cannot  be  compelled  to  be  just  and  the  Planter  is  thereby 
forced  to  go  u[)on  such  Manufactures  as  interfere  with  those  of  Great 
Britain. 

That  this  Evil  will  be  of  very  bad  consequence  if  not  speedily  redressed 
either  by  re-authorizing  the  Summons  Act,  or  by  some  other  Method  as 
your  Lordships  shall  think  proper. 

Your  Memorialist  also  begs  leave  to  observe  That  tliere  wants  in  South 
Carolina  a  Suitable  Publick  Provision  for  indigent  Criminals,  it  being  ecpially 
inhuman  that  those  poor  Wretches  should  perish  through  want  of  common 
sustenance,  as  it  is  unreasonable  that  the  Provost  Marshall  or  his  Deputy 
should  subsist  them  at  his  own  proper  Charge. 

All  which  is  most  humbly  submitted  to  your  Lordships  great  Judgement 
and  wisdome.  Tiios:   Lowxdks. 


(  9  ) 
[Endorsement.] — Letter  from  Colonel  Johnson  dated   Charles  Town 
28"*  September   17o2    to  Allured    Popple  Esq.  comi)laiiiiiig  of  INF   Thos: 
Lowndes  having  ill-treated  him  in  relation  to  the  Summons  Law  and  Deputy 
Marshals  Place  in  South  Carolina. 
Reed  Dec^  22°'i  1732 
Head  Aug  27"*  1735. 

\_/^x(racl.^ 
".  I  am  in  great  pain  for  fear  I  should  lye  under  your  Lordships  censure, 
having  had  a  Copy  of  M""  Lowndes  Memorial  sent  me,  which  he  told  M'' 
Fury  he  designed  to  prefer  against  me,  setting  forth  that  I  did  not  obey 
your  Loi-dships  orders  in  recommending  to  the  Assembly  the  repealing  of 
the  Capias  Act,  that'  I  did  is  certain,  and  does  appear  by  a  Message  of  the 
18"'  of  August  1731,  which  notorious  falsity  I  hope  will  give  him  little  cre- 
dit with  your  Lordships  for  the  future  ;  he  has  also  asserted  that  I  have  made 
the  Marslialls  place  a  pen^uisite  of  my  Government,  which  is  likewise  false,  I 
found  M'  Bampfield  Marshal  I  continued  him  at  his  own  request  as  is  noto- 
rious to  all  the  Province,  I  appointed  a  person  of  his  recommending,  he 
telling  me  he  desired  to  be  dismist,  because  his  affiiirs  required  his  going 
to  England,  and  abovit  six  months  after  he  told  me  he  had  altered  his  mind 
and  desired  to  be  restored,  which  I  granted  him,  and  he  was  lately  unfortu- 
nately drowned.  I  defy  Lowndes  to  prove  I  had  any  profit  by  this ;  but 
did  it  only  to  serve  a  man  I  thought  was  worthy  of  the  place,  and  one  M'' 
Popi)le  had  a  friendship  for.  M''  Lowndes  has  sent  no  exemplification  of  his 
Patent  nor  appointed  any  deputy,  in  the  mean  time  the  office  must  be  sup- 
plied, so  how  I  have  wronged  him  above  £200  as  he  has  told  ray  friends,  I 
can't  find  out,  nor  he  neither  I  am  sure,  'tis  very  hard  to  have  my  actions 
so  misrepresented,  by  one  that  has  cunningly  made  this  Province  his  property 
by  the  late  Lords  Proprietors  neglect  to  the  amount  of  £4000  or  £5000  Stg  : 
nobody  knovv5  for  what  other  merit  than  a  cousuraute  assurance,  pretending 
10 


68 

to  know  everything,  betraying  everybody  and  altering  his  opinion  as  often 
as  he  finds  it  for  his  Interest ;  I  iind  his  Malice  to  me  proceeds  from  my 
giving  your  Lord''"'  my  opinion  that  the  Assembly  will  hardly  ever  be 
brought  to  inforce  the  Summons  Law  and  I  found  it  so  when  I  sent  to  them 
about  it;  That  Law  was  disannuled  before  my  time,  I  have  no  Interest  one 
way  or  other  in  it ;  'tis  my  Duty  to  give  your  Lordships  my  opinion  of 
things,  I  obeyed  your  Orders  and  recommended  the  repeal  of  it,  but  to  no 
purpose ;  it  now  lyes  with  your  Lordships  to  report  as  you  please  about  it, 
but  am  sure  your  Lord^'  wont  think  a  Legislature  of  a  Province  is  to  pass 
Laws  they  disapprove  of,  purely  to  serve  M'  Lowndes  Interest,  or  because 
as  he  sets  forth  his  Interest  is  hurt ;  that  is  he  won't  have  so  good  an  op- 
portunity of  getting  £loOO  St^  :  which  is  his  price  for  the  Marshals  place, 
not  intrinsically  worth  £700  altho'  the  Capias  Law  was  repealed  ;  the  hopes 
of  which  keeps  him  from  letting  it,  for  fear  of  depreciating  the  sale  of  it ; 
for  he  is  sensible  that  nobody  that  knows  the  value  of  it  will  give  him 
above  50  or  £00  a  year  for  it." 

Copy  of  M'  Lowndes  Petition  or  Memorial. 

"  That  your  Pef  finding  a  Clause  in  an  Act  passed  in  South  Carolina  1720 
contrary  to  a  Maxim  of  tlie  Common  Law  of  England  and  the  Universal 
Practice  of  every  Colony  in  America,  applyed  to  the  Lords  Comm"  for  Trade 
and  Plantations  to  have  the  same  remedyed  and  their  Lordp'  wrote  to  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  about  it,  an  Extract  of  which  Letter  is  hereunto  annexed. 
But  your  Petitioner  has  not  been  as  yet  redressed  nor  likely  to  be,  for  tho' 
the  Assembly  was  sitting  at  the  tmie  M''  Johnson  received  the  Letter  from 
the  Lords  of  Trade  and  continued  to  do  business  for  more  than  two  months 
afterwards  yet  that  Gentleman  did  not  communicate  to  the  Assembly  the 
Order  he  had  received  but  has  made  your  Petitioner's  Office  a  Perquisite 
of  his  Government  and  appointed  a  Creature  of  his  own  to  execute  the 
place  who  renders  your  Petitioner  no  account  whatsoever." 


(   10  ) 

[Endorskjiemt.] — Order  of  a  Committee  of  Council  dated  27  April 
17o3  referring  the  Petition  of  M''  Thorpe  for  the  confirmation  of  a  grant 
of  1)000  Acres  of  Land  in  South  Carolina.   - 

To  the  King's  most  Excellent  Majesty 

The  humble  Petition  of  Robert  Thorpe 
Sheweth 

That  the  late  Lords  Proprietors  of  Carolina  by  Grant  under  their  Com- 
mon Seal  bearing  date  the  25"'  day  of  October  1726  Did  give  and  convey 
unto  Isaac  Lowndes  his  heirs  and  Assign^s  one  Barrony  or  Tract  of  Land  to 
contain  12000  Acres  Subject  to  one  penny  Sterling  quit  rent  which  Grant 
did  likewise  authorize  and  require  the  Surveyor  General  of  the  Province  of 
South  Carolina  innnediately  within  20  days  after  Notice  given  him  thereof 
to  allott  and  Sett  out  the  said  Tract  or  Barrony  of  Land  in  any  Place 
within  the  said  Province  of  South  Carolina. 

That  the  said  Isaac  Lowndes  by  deed  bearing  date  the  20"'  day  of  August 


69  . 

1729  for  liimself,  his  heirs  and  Assigns  Did  dedare  and  agree  that  his  name 
was  made  use  of  in  the  said  Grant  from  the  Lords  Proprietors  only  as 
Trustee  to  and  for  the  use  and  behoof  of  Thomas  Lowndes  of  tlie  City  of 
"Westminster  Gentleman  his  heirs  and  Assigns  and  to  and  for  no  other  Pur- 
pose whatsoever. 

That  the  said  Isaac  Lowndes  and  Thos :  Lowndes  in  Consideration  of  the 
sum  of  £4.>U  Lawfull  money  of  Great  Brittain  to  the  said  Tho'  Lowndes  in 
hand  paid  by  your  Petitioner  and  also  in  Consideration  of  5  Shillings  of 
Like  Lawfidl  money  to  the  said  Isaac  Lowndes  well  and  truly  paid  by  your 
Petitioner  Did  by  deeds  Indented  bearing  Date  the  10"^  Day  of  Sep'  1731, 
Grant,  Bargain,  sell  and  Conhrm  unto  your  Petitioner  his  Heirs  and  Assigns 
a  Tract  of  Land  to  C\)ntain  9000  Acres  English  Measure  being  part  of  the 
said  Barrony  so  granted  as  aforesaid  to  Isaac  Lowndes  in  trust  for  the  said 
Thomas  Lownds. 

That  your  Petitioner  having  thus  purchased  the  aforesaid  tract  of  9000 
Acres  Did  apply  to  James  St  John  Esq""  your  Majestys  Surveyor  General 
of  the  Province  of  South  Carolina  to  allott  and  sett  out  the  said  Barrony  so 
granted  as  Aforesaid  who  readily  performed  the  same  that  your  Petitioner 
did  thereupon  take  jiossession  of  his  part  thereof. 

That  your  Petitioner  nevertheless  finding  Doubts  arise  concerning  the 
Legallity  of  such  Survey  it  being  made  without  a  Warrant  had  from  your 
Majestys  Gov'  empowering  the  Surveyor  General  so  to  doe,  And  finding 
also  the  said  Gov'ernor  Deny  granting  Warrants  to  survey  Lands  claimed 
under  Patents  or  Grants  from  the  Late  Lords  Proprietors  without  knowing 
your  Majestys  Pleasure  concerning  such  Grants  notwithstanding  that  in  an 
act  passed  in  the  2  year  of  your  Majestys  reign  entitled  an  Act  for  estab- 
lishing an  Agreement  w'ith  seven  of  the  Lords  Proprietors  of  Carolina  for 
the  Surrender  of  their  Titlfi  and  Interest  in  that  Province  to  his  Majesty. 
There  is  an  Exception  in  these  words  Except  all  such  Tracts  of  Land, 
Tenements  and  Hereditaments  as  have  been  at  any  time  before  the  first 
Day  of  January  1727  granted  and  conveyed  or  comprized  in  any  Grants 
Deeds,  Instruments  or  Conveyances  under  the  Common  Seal  of  the  said 
Lords  Proprietois  either  in  England  or  in  the  province  aforesaid. 

He  therefore  most  humbly  prays  your  Majesty 

That  as  he  is  Seized  of  the  said  Tract  of  Land  by  a  Title  derived  from 
the  Late  Lords  Proprietors  long  before  the  time  of  the  Surrender  of  their 
Kespective  Interest  to  your  Majesty  and  that  for  the  Valuable  Considera- 
tion of  £450  lawfull  money  of  Great  Brittain  Your  Majesty  to  prevent  his 
being  molested  in  the  quiet  possession  of  the  same  would  be  graciously 
pleased  to  direct  your  Governor  of  the  said  Province  that  your  Petitioner 
may  not  any  Avise  be  molested  in  his  possession  of  the  said  Lands  conveyed 
to  him  as  aforesaid  before  the  Surrender  to  your  Majesty  and  also  expressly 
excepted  by  the  aforesaid  Act  of  Parliament  out  of  the  said  Surrender. 

And  your  Petitioner  as  in  duty  Bound  shall  ever  pray 

Robert  Thorpe. 


(  n  ) 

[Endorsement.] — Letter   from  M'  Tho:    Lowndes    in   relation  to   M"" 
Thorpe's  Grant  of  Land  in  South  Carolina. 


Reed  May  2P'>  ,„oQ 
Read  D"     22:  j"^'"^'^ 


70 

My  Lords 

In  obedience  to  your  Lordships'  commands  of  the  11"'  Instant, 
directing  me  to  lay  a  State  of  a  Transaction  relating  to  9000  Acres  of  Land, 
sold  by  me  to  M''  Thorpe,  I  most  humbly  beg  leave  to  acquaint  your  Lord- 
ships that  about  eighteen  months  ago  I  sold  to  that  Gentleman  and  M' 
De  la  Fontaine  One  Barony  in  South  Carolina  to  contain  Twelve  Thousand 
Acres  of  Land  Viz'  9000  to  M'  Thorpe  and  Three  to  M'^  De  la  Fontaine 
for  which  they  paid  me  the  money  contracted  for.  The  words  in  the  con- 
veyances were  these  Land  not  yet  admeasured  taken  vp  or  run  out  in  the 
province  of  South  Carolina.  A  little  after  the  writings  were  perfected, 
M''  Thorpe  went  to  South  Carolina  and  there  finding  that  an  Agent  for  me 
had  by  my  direction  (many  months  before  my  Agreement  with  him)  run 
out  a  Barony  upon  Port  Royal  River,  M'  Thorpe  liking  the  situation  ap- 
plied to  him,  and  falsely  aver'd  that  the  Barony  so  run  out,  was  the  Identi- 
cal Barony  he  and  M'  De  la  Fontaine  had  bought  of  me.  By  which  means 
(and  a  present  as  I  am  informed)  he  prevailed  upon  my  agent  not  to  return 
into  the  Surveyor's  Office  the  Field  Survey  he  had  made :  M"  Thorpe  also 
got  M*^  St  John  his  Majesties  Surveyour  General  to  survey  the  same  Tract 
for  him,  and  to  return  and  certify  the  Plan.  As  soon  as  I  was  informed 
of  this  proceeding,  I  wrote  to  M'  De  la  P'ontaine  about  it,  who  I  always 
found  ready  to  make  me  any  reasonable  Satisfaction,  so  fiir  as  he  was  con- 
cerned, and  only  deferred  it,  till  M""  Thorjie  returned.  Upon  his  arrival  I 
expostulated  civilly  with  him,  and  let  him  know  the  injury  he  had  done  me, 
I  having  a  grant  for  1 2000  Acres  which  must  now  be  taken  up  in  a  more 
remote  part  of  the  Country.  I  found  him  not  inclined  to  do  me  any  sort 
of  justice,  but  instead  of  that  affirmed  many  absurd  untruths.  Upon  the 
coming  over  lately  of  some  Persons  of  Credit  from  South  Carolina  M' 
Thorpe  believing  that  I  should  by  them  disprove  what  he  had  advanced 
made  application  to  the  Lords  of  his  Maj'^^  Privy  Council  to  procure  an 
Order,  under  the  Sanction  of  which  he  hop'd  (as  I  humbly  presume)  to 
keep  in  possession  of  the  Land  he  had  unfairly  entred  ujjon  and  baffle  any 
Remedy  at  law  I  might  endeavor  to  get. 

Tho'  this  is  the  true  State  of  the  Law  yet  I  proposed,  for  Peace  Sake  to 
leave  the  matter  in  Disj)ute  to  Arbitration,  as  the  enclosed  copy  of  an  ex- 
tract of  my  Letter  to  M'  De  la  Fontaine  will  shew  your  Lordships. 

If  your  Lord^*  write  to  M""  De  la  Fontaine  to  lay  before  your  Lord"**  a 
Co[)y  of  such  part  of  M'  Thorpe's  first  Letter  from  Carolina  as  relates  to 
the  running  out  of  the  Barony  (which  I  am  sure  he  is  too  fair  a  man  to 
refuse  doing,  he  having  formerly  communicated  it  to  me)  your  Lord**^  will 
clearly  see  how  nncandidly  Mr.  Thorpe  has  dealt  with  me.  I  am  very 
much  concerned  that  I\P  Thorpe's  conduct  should  occasion  my  giving  your 
Lord*"*  this  Trouble.  I  am  with  the  greatest  respect 
My  Lords 

Your  Lordships 

Most  ol»edit'nt  and 

Most  humble  Servant 

10  INIay  1733  Tnos:  Lowndes. 

[^Minute,  'probably  by  the  Secretary.] 
Several  Particulars  wherein  Messrs  Xhorpe's  and  De  la  Fontaines  Grant 
purchased  from  Thomas  Lowndes   diflTer  from  other  Grants  of  Land   made 
by  the  late  Lords  Propricitors.     Tliere   was   no  non-user  in  any  respect  in- 
curre<l  upon  tliis  Grant. 


71 

There  is  a  Warrant  in  the  Body  of  those  Grants  tliat  were  Lowndes's 
to  the  Survey''  Gen'  to  run  out  tlie  Land  hy  a  time  theiein  limitted,  so  that 
Thorpe  had  no  occasion  to  apply  to  the  Governour  for  his  Warrant. 

Lowndes's  Grants  were  likewise  gjiven  in  by  name  in  writing  to  the 
Lords  of  liis  Majesties  most  honourable  Privy  Council  at  the  time  of  the 
Treaty  for  purchasing  Carolina,  that  they  might  most  evidently  be  known 
not  to  be  witliin  the  Intention  of  the  Crowns  Purchase.  The  Grant  pur- 
chased by  Thorpe  is  more  advantagious  than  the  Reciprocal  Grants  of  the 
late  Lords  Propr'*  to  themselves,  except  in  respect  of  the  Descent  of  Elec- 
tion which  as  Lowndes  has  been  informed  is  peculiar  to  such  Keciprocal 
Grants. 

The  words  in  Thorpe's  Gi'ant  amount  to  a  Warranty,  which  for  me  Avas 
not  used  in  the  Common  Grants  and  the  Crown  with  resjiect  to  the  Pur- 
chase of  Carolina  (tis  humbly  presumed)  stands  in  the  Place  of  the  late 
Jjords  Proprietors. 

The  condition  upon  Non-performatice  of  which  Lowndes's  Grant  sold  to 
Thorpe  was  to  be  void  was  punctually  oi)served  viz'  It  was  enrolled  in 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  within  the  time  limited  by  the  Grant,  as  the 
InroUment  makes  appear. 

N,  B.  Lowndes's  Grant  sold  to  Thorpe  is  entered  in  the  Plantation 
Office  and  so  is  the  Purchase  Deed. 


(    12   ) 

[Endorsement,] — Letter  from  Mr.  Thos:  Lowndes  in  relation  to  the 
Grants  of  land  in  South  Carolina. 

Chiswick  4"^  June  1733. 
Sir, 

Being  I'equested  (as  you  know)  by  one  of  the  Lords  Commissioners 
for  Trade,  to  set  in  a  fuller  light  (than  in  my  last)  the  Ditlerence  that  there 
is  between  the  Common  Grants  for  Land  in  Carolina  to  Private  Grantees, 
and  the  Grants  made  by  the  Lords  Prop'  to  themselves,  I  beg  leave  to  ob- 
serve that  Carolina  having  never  made  but  very  inconsiderable  (if  any) 
Profit  by  the  Quit  Rents  (after  paying  the  Expence  of  Govern™')  it  was 
usual  for  the  Lords  Proprie"  from  time  to  time  to  make  reciprocal  Grants 
to  themselves  at  a  Pepper-Corn  Rent  which  were  sold  or  disposed  of  to  be 
run  out  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Purchaser  or  other  lawful!  owner.  These 
Grants  tho'  not  run  out  or  taken  up  in  the  life-time  of  the  Grantee  were 
descendable  to  the  Purchaser  or  owner  or  their  Representatives. 

The  Common  Grants  to  Private  Grantees,  tho'  they  were  to  Heirs  of 
Executors  Adm"  and  assigns  wei-e  never  deemed  to  convey  any  Property 
ludess  taken  up  or  run  out  in  the  life  time  of  the  Grantee  and  were  no  more 
than  Warrants  of  Election  which  were  wholly  extinguished  by  the  Death  of 
the  Grantee.  There  was  many  times  e(iuiial)li!  Circumstances  which  in- 
duced the  Proprietors  not  to  take  Advantage  of  such  Extinguishm'.  As  the 
Eminent  Services  of  the  Grantee,  a  Suddain  Lidian  War,  being  taken  Pri- 
soner in  going  over  to  take  Possession  and  dying  in  the  Ennemies  hands 
and  many  other  Accidents.  The  Lord  Carteret  as  I  have  been  informed 
some  short  time  ago,  sold  to  several  Considerable  Merchants  and  others  his 
Baronys,  it  would  Sure  be  very  unreasonable  that  in  case  Lord  Carteret 
the  Grantee  should  dye  before  the  laying  out  their  Baronys  that  the   Pur- 


72 

cliasers  should  lose  their  right  to  run  them  out.  This  is  very  likely  the  case 
of  some  others  who  claim  uuder  Reciprocal  Grants.  But  the  Common 
Grantees  were  not  Purchasers,  only  paid  a  Reut  after  the  Laud  was  run 
out. 

The  legal  Reason  for  this  Distinction  (as  I  have  been  told)  and  for  which 
I  referr  myself  to  M""  Vane  arose  from  this.  The  Lords  Pi-oprietors  were 
seized  in  fee  as  Tenants  in  Common  and  each  of  them  had  full  Possession 
of  One  undivided  Eighth  Part  and  such  Reciprocal  Grants  were  only  small 
separate  parts  of  what  before  was  contained  in  such  Undivided  Shares  or 
Parts.  But  the  Common  Grantees  (unless  they  run  out  their  Lands)  had 
no  Seizin  and  therefore  their  Lands  could  not  descend. 

If  any  doubt  should  remain  with  that  learned  Gent  I  believe  I  can  pro- 
duce to  him  an  Instance  from  the  Legislature  which  will  put  the  Right  of 
such  as  claim  under  Reciprocal  Grants  to  Proprietors  beyond  all  possibility 
of  Dispute. 

So  that  I  beg  leave  to  add  that  the  most  evident  and  essential  Difference 
between  the  Grants  made  to  Me  and  the  Common  Grants  is,  that  mine 
were  not  void  being  run  out  in  the  life  time  of  the  Grantee,  all  Grants  being 
void  if  not  run  out  before  the  Death  of  the  Grantees  except  such  as  derive 
their  Right  of  Claim  i'rora  any  Reciprocal  Grant  to  the  late  Lords  Pro- 
prietors. Did  I  not  know  the  Lords  of  Trade  to  be  persons  of  great  Honour 
I  should  not  express  myself  with  such  Frankness.  For  I  have  a  Barony 
undisposed  of,  and  I  am  in  a  declining  way  tho'  in  Equity  I  may  be  justly 
deemed  a  Purchaser. 

I  am  Sir 

Your  most  obedient  and 

Most  humble  Servant 

Tho  :  Lowndes. 

P.  S.  As  to  the  No.  of  Baronys  not  disposed  of  by  the  Proprietors  and 
included  in  the  Crowns  Purchase  if  I  remember  right  they  are  particularly 
specified  in  the  Act  of  Parliament. 


(  13  ) 

E.VDonsEMENT.— -L""  from  M"^  Tho:  Lowndes  to  Sir  Orlando  Bridgeman 
relating  to  a  Misconstruction  of  Col :  Johnson's  Instruction  for  granting 
of  Land. 


Reed.  12: 
Read  ■22: 


June  1733. 

June  12">  1733. 


Sir, 

I  take  the  Liberty  to  acquaint  your  Honour  and  the  rest  of  the 
Lords  Comm"^  for  Trade  and  Plantations  that  there  is  a  most  scandalous, 
unreasonal)Ie  Interpretation  put  upon  an  Article  in  the  Governour  of  South 
Carolina's  Instructions,  and  the  Province  will  be  involved  in  great  Ditficul- 
tys  if  a  Remedy  be  not  speedily  applyed.  The  abuse  is  committed  under 
the  name  of  Family  Warrants.  Many  hundred  Thousand  Acres  of  the 
Choisest  Land,  upon  the  best  Rivers  are  run  out  uiuler  the  pretence  of 
complying  with  an  Order  which  was  wisely  intended  for  tlie  Good  of  the 
Province  and  which  without  abandoning  all  common   understanding,  and 


73 

Common  Honesty  could  never  have  been  wrested  as  it  has  been.  It  is  the 
hitter  Part  of  the  42  Article,  that  they  force  to  give  a  Sanction  to  their 
Proceedings.  I  believe  the  Lords  of  Trade  have  not  yet  been  informed  of 
this  unprecedented  Transaction. 

I  also  beg  leave  to  observe  to  you  and  the  rest  of  their  Lordships  that 
there  is  (I  humbly  conceive)  a  thing  in  my  power  to  lay  before  your  Board, 
and  which  if  not  timely  discovered  and  prevented  will  occasion  a  great  deal 
of  trouble  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  and  be  of  very  ill  consequence  to  the 
Publick,  and  their  Lordships  Correspondents  (I  believe)  can't  inform  them 
of  this  Particular  till  it  is  too  late.  I  will  undertake  candidly  to  shew  their 
Lordships  the  whole  Affair.  But  then  I  hope  I  may  be  allowed  to  depend 
upon  having  (as  a  reward  for  the  Service)  their  Lordshi[)s  Favour  and 
Protection  in  any  Application  I  shall  hereafter  make  to  them,  where  I  have 
Justice,  Equity  or  Reason  on  my  Side. 

Your  Honour  can't  have  forgot  that  when  the  Lords  of  Trade  through 
misrepresentations  to  them  had  settled  the  Quitt  Rent  in  South  Carolina  at 
2  shill  p  Hundred  Acres  Proclamation  Money,  I  gave  you  some  Information 
(to  be  tlepended  on)  that  the  Land  would  bear  a  much  higher  Rent,  upon 
which  their  Lordships  altered  their  Resolution  and  settled  the  Quitt  Rent 
as  it  now  stands. 

You'll  please  to  indulge  me  by  letting  INP  Docminique  know  that  he 
misunderstood  what  I  said  at  your  Board  the  other  day,  when  (amongst 
other  things)  I  asked  him  "  whether  I  had  expressed  myself  clearly  enough. " 
For  that  Question  had  no  reference  to  the  Affair  which  M''  Thorpe  gavo 
their  Lordships  the  trouble  of  (and  where  in  he  now  wants  to  equivocate 
and  explain)  but  to  a  Letter  relating  to  Patents  which  M"^  Docniini(iue 
desired  me  a  few  days  before  to  write  to  the  Board;  and  designing  next; 
week  to  go  to  France,  I  thought  it  but  a  decent  peice  of  Respect  to  ask  if 
that  Letter  wanted  Explanation.  Your  Goodness  I  hope  will  pardon  this 
tedious  Letter,  and  allow  me  the  Honour  of  subscribing  myself  with  the 
greatest  Respect 

Sir, 

Y'our  most  obedient  and 

Most  humble  Servant 

ThO  :    LOAVNDES. 

P.  S.  I  have  an  utter  aversion  to  the  giving  Gentlemen  of  Rank  any 
trouble  and  if  their  Lordships  referr  me  to  ^V  Wheelock  or  M"'  Burnish  to 
ex|)laiii  my  self  They  will  have  Patience  with  my  weak  state  of  Healtli, 
and  I  know  M""  Sec'^  Popple  has  such  a  vast  Load  of  Business  that  he 
can't  allow  me  time  to  be  understood. 

Sir  Orlando  Bridijeman  One  of  the  Lords  of  Trade. 


(  14   ) 
Endorsi:mi:nt.] — Letter   from   Tho :    Lowndes    Dated    the  2i."^  Jui.e 
1733. 


J^^^'H  June  22°^  1733 
Read  ) 


74 

My  Lords, 

The  Province  of  Georgia  is  in  imminent  danger  of  being  ruined,  at 
least  the  Settlement  will  be  vastly  discouraged,  and  the  intent  of  the  Publick 
frustrated,  and  your  Lordp'  must  have  almost  endless  applications  if  what  I 
have  to  propose  be  not  taken  immediately  under  consideration. 

I  intend  to  set  out  for  France  on  Wednesday  next,  the  constant  acute 
Pain  I  am  in  renders  me  unfit  for  the  Honour  of  having  a  long  Audience  at 
your  Lordp*  Board  :  if  the  Terms  proposed  in  my  last  (which  I  hope  are 
not  reckoned  immodest)  are  granted  me  I  will  honestly  communicate  in 
writing  what  this  matter  (which  your  Lordp*  will  find  to  be  of  great  impor- 
tance) is. 

1  am  with  the  greatest  respect 

My  Lords 

Your  Lordships 

Most  obedient  and 

Most  humble  Servant 
22  June  1733.  Tiio:  Lowndes. 


(   15  ) 
[Endorskment.] — L''  from  Tho:  Lowndes  dated  25"^  June   1733  relat- 
ing to  the  manner  of  granting  Lands  in  South  Carolina. 

Reed  June  2G"*)  .„or. 
Read  July  4"^    j^'^^ 

My  Lords, 

III  consequence  of  a  Letter  from  my  self  of  the  12"^  Listnnt  to  Sir 
Orlando  Bridgeman,  One  of  your  Lordship's  Board,  and  also  of  One  other 
like  Letter  to  your  Board  of  22  Do.  I  humbly  beg  leave  to  observe  to  your 
Lordships  that  the  late  Lords  Proprietors  of  Carolina  did  in  June  1717 
grant  to  Sir  Robert  Montgomery  (in  trust  for  another  Person)  all  the  Tract 
of  Land  between  the  Rivers  Alatamaha  and  Savannah,  with  all  Islands  &c. 
which  grant,  tho'  really  void,  is  now  revived  and  stands  fully  confirmed  and 
established  by  IS"*  Page  of  the  Printed  Copy  of  an  Act  passed  in  South 
Carolina  1730  entituled  an  Act  for  Remission  of  Arrears  of  Quitt  Rent 
&c. 

The  Territory  mentioned  in  Montgomery's  Grant  is  now  by  his  Majestys 
Letters  Patents  created  into  the  Province  of  Georgia. 

I  am  by  good  Hands  informed  that  the  person  who  pretends  to  claim  under 
this  Grant,  intends  in  a  short  time  to  take  Possession  of  it.  And  if  once 
Possession  is  got,  which  in  all  probability  may  be  done,  before  the  Act  is 
repealed  (a  Person  being  now  arrived  from  Carolina  to  support  it,  and  the 
Agent  praying  to  shew  Cause  before  the  Lords  of  the  Council  for  its  Con- 
firmation) the  Claimant  must  certainly  have  in  view  the  maintaining  his 
Title  by  a  Subscription,  in  the  year  1720,  of  a  large  sum  of  money  made  by 
many  Persons  of  the  best  Rank  and  (Quality.  Great  part  of  which  money 
Was  said  to  be  expended  in  buying  Arms,  Cloaths,  Tools,  Utensils  &c.  for 
settling  and  cultivating  some  Islands  or  part  of  the  Territory  mentioned  in 
the  above  named  Grant  which  Territory  or  Islands  are  part  of  Georgia. 

Your  Lordships  in  your  Report  for  r('[)ealiiig  this  Bill  having  not  objected 
to  the  Confirmation  of  Montgomery's  Grant  is  construed  as  a  tacit  acknow- 
ledgment of  its  validity. 


75 

In  the  year  172.'5  there  was  a  Treaty  set  on  Foot  betwixt  the  hite  Lords 
Proprietors  and  the  Persons  claiming  under  the  Grant  to  Sir  Robert  Mont- 
gomery, from  which  (if  once  Possession  is  got)  many  Arguments  for  pre- 
tended Erpiity  may  be  drawn.  The  Papers  relating  to  that  Treaty  are 
my  Property,  and  in  my  Possession  and  ready  to  be  produced. 

Tile  Grant  from  the' late  Lords  Prop"  is  very  loosely  and  improperly 
worded  and  affords  many  advantages  to  the  views  the  Persons  claiming 
under  it  may  have,  if  (as  the  Act  of  Carolina  now  stands)  the  Grant  be 
entred  upon. 

The  various  involved  and  complicated  Transactions  that  have  been  car- 
ried on  either  really  or  pretendedly  under  this  Grant  to  Montgomery  may 
I  huml)ly  presume  (if  care  is  not  taken)  occasion  your  Lordships  innumera- 
ble applications. 

I  hope  I  have  made  out,  what  I  undertook,  and  it  would  be  impious  in 
me  to  doubt  the  performance  of  what  I  was  promised  on  22""^  Instant  in  the 
name  of  your  Lordp'  Board,  and  which  I  humbly  insisted  on  in  my  letter 
of  12""  liis'  as  a  Reward  for  this  Service  viz'  Your  Lords^'  Favour  and 
Protection  in  any  Application  I  shall  hereafter  make  to  your  Lordp'  where 
I  have  Justice,  Equity  or  Reason  on  my  side  ;  and  I  hope  not  to  live  to  put 
any  Disingenuous  Interpretation  upon  these  "Words.  And  I  beg  your 
Lordp'  will  please  to  order  a  Proper  Minute  upon  this  Occasion. 

The  Earl  of  Westmorland  to  whose  Goodness  I  have  great  Obligations, 
will  now  see  I  have  done  what  I  took  the  Liberty  to  inform  his  Lord^  I 
could  do  in  my  letter  to  his  LordP  of  4"^  May  1732  And  I  delayed  giving 
your  Lordp'  this  Information  till  I  saw  the  Kings  Officers  who  wrote  over 
against  this  Act  to  miss  the  Point ;  and  that  the  Intent  of  the  Publick  as 
to  the  Settlement  of  Georgia  was  just  going  to  be  frustrated. 

When  the  Limits  in  North  America  betwixt  Great  Britain  and  Spain  are 
to  be  adjusted,  I  have  something  (I  presume)  of  consequence  to  lay  before 
your  Lordp*  Board.     I  am 

My  Lords 

25**^  June  1733.  Your  Lordships  most  obedient 

and  most  humble  Servant 

Tuo :  Lowndes. 

P.  S.  The  Grant  to  Montgomery  is  entred  at  large  in  one  of  the  late 
Lords  Prop"^'  Books  which  (I  believe)  was  delivered  in  to  the  Plantation 
Office  upoTi  the  Crowns  Purchase  and  there  is  in  another  of  their  Books  a 
IVIem'^  of  this  Grant  given  in  by  the  late  Prop"  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council 
at  the  time  of  the  said  Purchase  which  for  your  Lordp'  Perusal  M'  Whee- 
lock  permitted  me  to  look  out.  Azilia  and  the  Golden  Islands  are  all  in 
the  same  Grant  to  Montgomery. 

(  16  ) 
[Endorsement.] — Letter  of  Mr.  Tho :    Lowndes  in   relation  to  Col. 
Horsey's  Grant  of  Land  in  South  Corolina. 

My  Lords, 

Being  at  present  a  little  at  ease  from  two  violent  Distempers,   with 
which  I  was  tortured  when  I  drew  up  my  late  Petition  to  your  Lordships, 
and  reflecting  calmly  upon  every  step  that  was  taken  in  his  Majesties  Pur- 
chase of  the  Carolina  Charter,  I  do  from  the  Circumstances  of  things  aver, 
11 


76 

that  Col.  Horsey's  Warrant  for  the  48000  Acres  of  Land  could  not  possibly 
be  signed  till  Feb^  172|-  after  the  Treaty  with  the  Crown  was  set  on 
Foot.  And  the  late  Lords  Proprietors  who  are  men  of  Quality  and  Persons 
of  great  Justice  and  Honour,  will  to  be  sure  give  your  Lordships  a  satisfac- 
tory reason,  why  Col.  Horsey's  Warrant  was  antedated,  for  that  Transaction 
I  was  in  no  wise  privy  to. 

I  am  with  the  greatest  Eespeet 
My  Lords 

Your  Lordships 

Most  obedient  and 
25  Fel^.  173|.  Most  humble  Servant 

Tiio  :  Lowndes. 
Tricks   will   be  plaid   with   the 
Proprr''    Minute   Book  if  care 
be  not  taken. 

Lords  Com"  for  Trade. 

Note. — Mr.  Lowndes  had  submitted  on  the  23d  of  February,  three  days 
previous,  a  lengthy  memorial  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade,  ob- 
jecting to  Horsey's  pretensions  to  a  claim  of  48,000  acres. 


(   17  ) 
[Endorsement.] — Lf  from  M"^  Tho:  Lowndes  of  26  Feb.  17of  to  the 
Sec'*"  containing  nothing  of  Office  or  publick  business   only  general  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Secretary. 

Reed  Feb  2G:  )  -_o3 
Read  28:  r'^^ 

Sir, 

In  I'eturn  for  a  gross  incivility  you  was  guilty  of  some  time  ago  to- 
wards me,  I  intend  in  a  few  days  to  print  in  the  Grub  Street  Journal  some 
letters  oi  yours  to  me,  wrote  in  your  private  Capacity;  and  being  a  letter 
in  your  debt  was  the  reason  1  wrote  my  last  to  you  in  that  style  and 
manner. 

But  really  I  must  Congratulate  the  Publick  that  a  Person  so  engaged  in 
Business  as  you  are  have  been  able  to  improve  the  Orthography  of  our 
language  without  putting  the  State  to  the  Expence  of  an  Academy. 

I  am  Sir 

Your  most  humble  Serv' 
Feb.  20"' 173|.  Tho:  Lowndes. 


(   18  ) 
[Endousement.]— L*'' from  M'  Tho:   Lowndes  dated  Oct.  22""  1734 
relating  to  his  Grant  of  Land  in  South  Carolina  and  to  that  part  of  it  sold 
to  M--  Rutherford. 

Read     }    ^^t' 22 :  1734. 

22'"'  Oct'  1734. 
My  Lords, 

I  must  be  allowed  the  Liberty  to  observe  to  your  Lord^'  that  about 


77 

four  years  ago  I  sold  a  Barony  of  Land  in  South  Carolina  the  Grant  of 
vvhicli  except  the  Trustees  name  was  just  the  same  with  that  purchased  hy 
M""  Rutherford  (which  has  long  lain  in  your  Lord''^  OHice)  and  1  took  honds 
payahle  at  a  future  Day  for  the  Purchase  Money.  Some  time  after  the 
IJonds  w^ere  become  due  I  put  them  in  Suit,  and  the  Security,  one  M''  Cotton 
of  Cutler's  Hall  an  Attorney  of  much  fame  by  direction  as  he  said  of  Wright 
the  Purchaser  brought  a  Bill  in  the  Exchequer  at  Westm""  Praying  that  the 
Bonds  might  be  delivered  up  cancelled,  for  that  the  Grant  for  the  purchase 
of  which  Thei/  ivere  giren  was  void  for  uncertainty  there  being  no  Bounds, 
Metes  or  Limits  described  in  it. 

I  by  order  of  Court  set  forth  the  Grant  in  hiec  Verba  and  jdeaded  the 
Saving  Clause  in  the  Act  of  Parliament  for  the  Crown's  Purchase  of 
Carolina  and  my  answer  was  not  only  allowed  to  be  sutlicient  and  good,  but 
after  several  Hearings  before  the  Lord  Chief  Baron  &  the  Three  other 
Barons  the  Purchaser's  Bill  was  dismissed  with  full  Costs ;  which  together 
with  the  Purchase  Money  was  levyed  upon  the  Securitys,  Goods  &c.  in 
Hertfordshire  and  Middlesex.  Your  Lordships  Solicitor  may  give  you  full 
Information  of  the  whole  proceedings,  for  we  fought  all  the  weapons  through. 

The  Records  of  the  Council  Office  of  the  19"'  March  172|  will  slicw 
(when  the  Treaty  was  negociating)  that  his  Majesty  bought  Carolina  with 
the  Incumbrance  of  my  Grant,  expressly  and  by  name.  And  the  saving 
Clause  was  accordingly  drawn  by  the  Grant  now  before  your  Board.  If 
after  all  this  my  Right  is  to  be  questioned,  I  know  not  what  can  be  called 
Projierty. 

]\i'"  Ward  and  M''  Pigott  have  drawn  all  the  deeds  for  the  Land  I  have 
sold  and  they  aver  my  Title  to  be  without  Exception.  For  his  M/iJesfg 
[with  all  submission  I  write  it)  is  bound  in  Law  bi/  the  Proprietor's  Warranty 
which  is  peculiar  to  my  Grant  cdone.  And  I  was  a  Purchaser  for  a 
Valuable  Consideration. 

I  therefore  beg  leave  humbly  to  insist  on  your  Lordships  performing 
your  Agreement  with  me  as  to  directing  the  Surveyor  Gen'  to  run  out  the 
Jiarony  sold  to  iNP  Rutherford  agreeable  to  my  memorial.  The  Surveyor 
Gen'  is  an  OHicer  under  your  Lordship's  Directions  by  his  Instructions. 

I  most  solemidy  Conjure  your  Lordships  not  to  let  your  Prejudice  to  my 
person  affect  my  cause  when  you  sit  in  Judgement.  The  complaint  I 
exhibited  against  your  Secretary  M"^  Popple  was  well  grounded,  for  I  was 
basely  cheated  by  his  mediation  and  I  lost  more  than  Sixty  Pounds. 

I  do  with  truth  assure  your  Lordships  did  I  not  abhorr  disserving  my 
native  Country  I  can  shew  a  neighboi'ing  nation  how  to  deprive  Great 
Britain  of  a  valuable  Branch  of  Trade  without  iiifVinging  any  Treaty,  and 
if  your  Lordships  will  signify  that  you  think  this  a  vain  Bragg  (so  that  my 
honour  as  an  Englishman  may  be  fully  justifyed)  I  will  immediately  and 
publickly  set  down  in  writing  how  in  that  particular  Our  commerce  may  be 
prejudiced ;  and  I  know  my  Lords  how  to  be  very  welcome  to  a  foreign 
State  whose  Language,  Manners  and  Customs  ('tis  well  known)  I  am  no 
stranger  to. 

I  am  my  Lords 

Your  Lordships 

Most  oppressed  humble  Scr' 

Tiio :  Lowndes. 


78 

(  19  ) 

[Endorsement.] — The  Provost  Marsliall's  Petition  for  !in  allowance  out 
of  the  Quit  Rents  for  the  charge  he  has  been  at  in  building  a  Provincial 
Gaol. 


|-^[Oct.31,1735. 


To  the  Queen's  most  Excellent  Majesty  in  Council.  The  Humble  Peti- 
tion of  George  Morley  Esq  Provost  Marshall  of  His  Majesty's  Province 
of  South  Carolina  in  America, 

Most  humbly  Shevpeth 

That  your  Peti''  holds  the  said  Office  under  an  Assignment  of  his  Majes- 
ty's Letters  Patent  bearing  date  the  11"'  day  of  February  in  the  Fourth 
year  of  his  Reign  which  he  has  since  executed  with  great  care,  Diligence 
and  Fidelity. 

That  your  Pef  has  been  at  great  expence  in  going  over  to  Carolina  to 
put  the  said  Office  into  Order  and  in  accomplishing  thereof  he  found  very 
great  Difficultys,  and  there  being  no  salary  annexed  to  the  Office  nor  any 
Provincial  Gaol  for  the  confinement  of  prisoners  your  Pet"^  has  been  obliged 
at  his  own  loss  and  charges  to  hire  a  house  and  fit  it  up  in  a  proper  and 
suitable  manner. 

That  the  Profits  arising  therefrom  are  very  small  though  the  Trust  is 
great. 

That  the  Interest  and  property  of  many  of  Plis  INIajesty's  Subjects  of  the 
said  Province  depends  upon  a  due  execution  of  the  said  Office  and  keeping 
in  safe  Custody  trom  time  to  time  the  Prisoners  Committed  to  his  Charge. 

Your  Petitioner  therefore  most  humbly  prays  Your  Majesty  that  you  will 
be  graciously  pleased  to  grant  him  such  an  allowance  out  of  the  Quit  Rents 
of  that  Province  as  may  enable  him  to  provide  for  the  better  Security  of 
the  Prisonei-s  and  encourage  his  Diligence  in  the  faithful  Execution  of  his 
office  on  which  the  good  government  of  the  Pi-ovince  does  so  immediately 
dejiend. 

And  your  Petitioner  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  pray 

Geo  :  Mokley. 
reed  from  '^V  Fui-ie 

(    -^0   ) 
At  the  Court  of  Kensington  15  July  173G. 
Present  The  Queen's  most  excellent  Majesty  and  his  Majesty's  Lieutenant. 
Her  Majesty  was  pleased  by  her  Order  in  Council  of  the  I  3"'  of  October 
last  to  refer  to  the  Consideration  of  a  Committee  of  the   Privy  Council  the 
humble  Petition  of  George  JMorley  Es(i''  that  they  make  the  necessary  Pro- 
visions for  erecting  a  Common  Goal  &  keeping  the  same  in  repair  agreeable 
to  the  Practice  of  other  British  Colonys. 

(    21    ) 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Colonel  Bull  dated  Charlestown  23"'  of  January 
174'i 

"  r  further  beg  leave  to  acquaint  your  Lordships  the  Office  of  Provost 
Marshal  became  vacant  by  the  deatli  of  M'  Rohcrf  Hill  who  executed  that 


79 

Trust  under  Georrfe  Morley  Esq'  Assignee  of  Thomas  Lowndes  the  Patentee, 
and  thereupon  I  did  pursuant  to  his  Majestys  Instructions  till  up  that  \'a- 
cancy  hy  appointing  M'  WilUain  Williamson*  to  execute  the  Olhce  of  Pio- 
vost  Marshal." 

(   22   ) 

[Endouskment.] — Letter  from  M''  Lowndes  to  y®  Secretary  dated  y* 
21"'  of  February  174G-7  upon  the  subject  of  liis  Petition  lately  referred  to 
this  Board,  relatin<f  to  a  Grant  of  Lund  in  South  Carolina  made  to  him  the 
25"' of  October  172G. 

Reed  Feb^y  21"   )  ,-,6 
Kead  March  G"'  J  ^'"*7- 

.21"  Feb^  174G. 
Sir, 

I  can  indeed  do  a  very  considerable  service  to  our  American  Trade. 
But  why  should  I  break  my  P>rains,  when  I  meet  with  such  Treatment  ? 

However  I  beg  leave  to  acijuaint  the  Right  Hon^'^"^  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  that  at  the  time  of  the  Sale  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  I  was  owner  of  Five  Baronys,  One  in  the  name  of  John  Beresford, 
sold  to  Admiral  Anson  and  M"^  Wright,  One  in  the  name  of  Isaac  Lowndes 
sold  to  Messieurs  Thorpe  and  De  la  Fontaine,  One  in  the  name  of  Charles 
Edwards  run  out  by  Col^  Bull  and  myself,  One  in  the  name  of  Wright 
(mentioned  in  the  Act  of  Parliament)  sold  to  M"^  Commissioner  Revel  and 
Partners,  and  One  in  my  own  name,  the  Grant  for  which  is  now  in  your 
Office. 

If  the  Prayer  of  my  Petition  be  granted,  this  will  be  the  Consequence. 
His  Majesty  will  thereby  extinguish  a  Grant  and  future  Settlers  will  by 
that  means  pay  for  Land  which  otherwise  would  be  covered  by  my  Grant, 
and  the  amount  of  the  Quit-Rent  so  payable  will  be  of  the  same  Value  with 
the  present  decrease  of  the  Quit-Rents. 

But,  permit  me  to  observe,  that  I  have  no  Common  merit  with  regard  to 
his  ^Lijestys  Quit-Rents.  For  they  would  have  been  reduced  to  a  Con- 
temptible Pittance,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Regulation  drawn  up  by  me, 
which  was  presented  in  form  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  and  in  a  Letter  to  the 
Board,  previous  to  giving  in  the  Paper,  I  insisted  that  it  was  to  be  deemed 
a  publick  Service,  and  as  such  it  was  received  by  the  Board. 

JU-health  and  ill-fortune  together  shall  not  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of 
reflecting,  that  by  that  Performance,  his  Majesty's  troops  in  North  America 
were  kept  from  suffering  very  great  distress,  which  could  not  otherwise 
have  been  prevented,  as  our  Law  then  Avas  and  still  continues.  I  had  at 
that  time  very  civil  acknowledgments  from  some  of  the  first  persons  in  the 
Kingdom,  and  sure  no  man  did  ever  ask  a  more  moderate  Gratification, 
than  1  have  petitioned  for. 

I  am  with  great  and  real  respect 
Sir 

Your  most  obedient  and 
I  herewith  send  a  good  draft  Most  humble  Servant 

of  the  island  of  Ratan   which  Tiio  :  Lowndks. 

when  their  Lord''"  have  seen, 
you'll  please  to  return. 

•  Williamson,  as  late  Provost  Marshal,  pttilioncd  tlic  Council  of  Sontli  Carolina  Marcli  8, 
1742-3. 


80 


(   23   ) 
[Endorsement.] — Letter   from  James    Glen  Esq''.    Govei-'""  of  South 
Curoliua  to  the  Board  dated  27""  July  1752. 
Rec'^  Oct  1752.      - 
Read  Nov.  8,  1752. 

Abstract. — Acquainting  their  Lord''^  of  the  death  of  James  Wed- 
derburn  Esq""  who  enjoyed  the  Offices  of  Clerk  of  the  Crown  and  Peace, 
and  Clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas  for  20  years  &  executed  them  with  satis- 
faction. He  held  the  Office  of  Clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas  by  Patent 
under  the  Great  Seal  in  Consequence  of  his  Majesty's  Royal  Sign  Manual 
to  the  governour  for  that  purpose  ;  but  enjoyed  the  Offices  of  Clerk  of  the 
Crown  and  Peace  as  Assignee  of  Thomas  Lowndes  who  had  a  Grant  for  the 
same  under  the  seal  of  the  Lords  Propri"^^  to  him,  his  heirs  &  Assigns,  but 
having  surrendered  the  same  into  the  hands  of  his  Majesty,  His  Majesty 
was  graciously  pleased  to  re-grant  the  said  Offices  to  Thos  :  Lowndes  &  his 
Assigns  during  the  life  time  of  him  and  of  Hugh  Watson  of  the  JNIiddle 
Temple  and  the  longest  liver,  who  are  both  said  to  be  dead  ;  the  value  of 
Clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas  cannot  be  certainly  known  as  it  depends  en- 
tirely on  the  Fees  of  the  Office  which  have  amounted  to  between  three  and 
four  hundred  pounds  yearly  for  some  time  past,  out  of  which  the  Clerk  has 
always  paid  an  Assistant  £100  W  An.  The  Salary  of  the  Clerk  of  the 
Crown  is  £25  #*  An.  paid  out  of  his  Majesty's  Quit  Rents  &  the  Fees  may 
be  about  as  much.  Also  the  Appointment  of  David  Grteme  Esq'"  to  supply 
the  Vacancy. 


81 


Extracts  fuom  the  Parish  Rec.istkr  of  St.  Mary's, 
Cayou,  St.  Kitts. 

Baptisms  at  Christ  Church,  Nichola  Town,  in  the  Island  of  Si.  Christopher. 
1740.  June  1.     Mary,  rlaugh""  of  Will"'  &  INIary  Lowndes. 
1744.  Aug'  1.     John  Taylor,  son  of  Will'"  &  Mary  Lowndes. 

Burials  at  Christ  Church,  Nichola  Toivn. 
17G3.  July  2G.     Ruth  Lowndes,  tvidow  of  Charles  Lowndes. 

Marriac/es  at  Christ  Church,  Nichola  Toton. 
1739.  Ap.  7.     Married   Wil?"   Lowndes    &    Mary    d^   of    Nich'   &    Mary 

Taylor. 


I  hereby  certify  that  the  above  statement  of  Baptisms,  Burial  &  Mar- 
riage are  correct  Extracts  from  the  Register  Book  of  Baptisms,  Burials  and 
Marriages  transcribed  in  1787  by  consent  of  the  authorities  in  the  Islaud, 
from  the  Original  Registry,  '■  which  was  in  many  places  torn  &  defoced," 
&  certified  by  the  then  Rector,  Joseph  Barnes,  to  be  a  "  faithful  copy." 
The  Register  Book  does  not  date  further  back  than  April  8""  1730. 
St.  Mary's  Rectory,  P]bknezer  Elliott 

Cayou,  St.  Kitts  Rector  of  Christ  Church  Nichola  Town 

Jan^  15'"  1870  &  St.  Mary,  Cayou,  St.  Kitt's 


THE  L  BRARY 

UNIVEKci-;  Y  (•-'■  i  AUFORNU 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


*^M  8      1953 

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